Not just ‘Alligator Alcatraz’: DeSantis floats building another immigration detention center

TALLAHASSEE Fla AP Florida executives are pursuing plans to build a second detention center to house immigrants as part of the state s aggressive push to endorsement the federal governing body s crackdown on illegal immigration Republican Gov Ron DeSantis mentioned Wednesday he s considering standing up a facility at a Florida National Guard training center known as Camp Blanding about miles kilometers southwest of Jacksonville in northeast Florida in addition to the site under construction at a remote airstrip in the Everglades that state functionaries have dubbed Alligator Alcatraz The construction of that facility in the remote and ecologically sensitive wetland about miles kilometers west of downtown Miami is alarming environmentalists as well as human rights advocates who have slammed the plan as cruel and inhumane Speaking to reporters at an event in Tampa DeSantis touted the state s muscular approach to immigration enforcement and its willingness to help President Donald Trump s administration meet its goal of more than doubling its existing beds for detaining foreigners to at least beds State authorities have announced the detention facility which has been described as temporary will rely on heavy-duty tents trailers and other impermanent buildings allowing the state to operationalize immigration detention beds by early July and free up space in local jails I think the ceiling that will be added there will help the overall national mission It will also relieve various burdens of our state and local law enforcement DeSantis disclosed Managing the facility via a organization of vendors will cost a bed per day or approximately million a year a U S official announced The expenses will be incurred by Florida and reimbursed by the Federal Urgency Management Agency In the eyes of DeSantis and other state personnel the remoteness of the Everglades airfield surrounded by mosquito- and alligator-filled wetlands that are seen as sacred to Native American tribes makes it an ideal place to detain expatriates Clearly from a guard perspective if someone escapes you know there s a lot of alligators he revealed No one s going anywhere Democrats and activists have condemned the plan as a callous politically motivated spectacle What s happening is very concerning the level of dehumanization revealed Maria Asuncion Bilbao Florida campaign coordinator at the immigration advocacy group American Friends Utility Committee It s like a theatricalization of cruelty she commented DeSantis is relying on state emergency powers to commandeer the county-owned airstrip and build the compound over the concerns of county agents environmentalists and human rights advocates Now the state is considering standing up another site at a National Guard training facility in northeast Florida as well We ll seemingly also do something similar up at Camp Blanding DeSantis explained adding that the state s urgency management division is working on that