Ron DeSantis Wasted $250 Million on Alligator Alcatraz as It Faces Closure
The state of Florida has engaged at $ 245 million for the construction of “Alligator Alcatraz”, the Everglades’ immigration detention plant which should end in days.
An e-mail obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press of Kevin Guthrie, head of the Florida emergency management division, indicates that the installation will probably be empty, after a federal judge has judged that it should stop operating.
Nowsweek Thursday, contacted the Governor Desantis office and the Ministry of Internal Security (DHS) by e-mail outside of regular office hours.
Why it matters
Since his second presidential inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has supervised a repression aimed at illegal immigration, increasing expenditure on immigration and removing legal obstacles to rapid deportations.
Closing the new detention center in Florida would be a blow for Governor Desantis and the Trump administration, and would show that one of the main obstacles to White House policy continues to be the courts.
What to know
The figures published by Florida officials show that the State has signed contracts worth at least $ 245 million to companies to work at the new detention center in Florida, which was built by reusing the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee.
The largest unique contract, with $ 78.5 million, went to the Critical Response Strategies based on Jacksonville which is responsible for hiring correctional agents, camp managers and IT staff.
Longview Solutions Group received $ 25.6 million for the preparation and construction of the site while the Computer Company Gothams has a $ 21.1 million contract to provide services, including access badges and held bracelets.
Certain details of the contract were then deleted from the Florida public database, arousing criticism from the representative of the democratic state Anna Eskamani.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty
Florida officials said that some of their expenses would be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But the Trump administration declared in a legal file that it had nothing to do with the financing of the establishment, according to CBS: “Florida built and operates the installation using public funds on the state of the state under the state authority of the State.”
The file also indicates: “DHS (the American Department of Internal Security) has not implemented, authorized, directed or funded the temporary detention center of Florida.”
The installation had to cost $ 450 million to operate each year after construction, according to CNN.
However, in a blow to Desantis, a federal judge of Miami judged on August 21 that “Alligator Alcatraz” should be closed within 60 days and that no other detainees could be transferred to the establishment during this period. Previously, the same judge had interrupted construction work at the camp.
Legal challenges have been carried by an environmental group coalition and the Aboriginal miccosukee tribe.
What people say
Speaking of conditions in the establishment Florida representative Debbie Schultz, Democrat, said: “They are mainly wrapped in cages, wall humans, 32 prisoners by cage.”
In an interview CNN Thomas Kennedy, political analyst of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said: “The fact that we are going to have 3,000 people detained in tents, in the Everglades, in the middle of the hot summer of Florida, during the hurricanes season, it is a bad idea all around which must be opposed and stopped.”
In a statement previously sent to Nowsweek A Official DHS said: “Under the leadership of President Trump, we are working on Turbo Speed on profitable and innovative means to hand over the mandate of the American people for mass deportations of criminal illegal foreigners.
“The DHS conforms to this order and moves from prisoners to other facilities. We will continue to fight the teeth and nail nails to eliminate the worst from American streets.”
What happens next
The Trump administration is expected to continue its repression against illegal migrants in the United States in a decision that will put pressure on existing immigration detention facilities and could lead to more construction.
