ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
The immigration detention center in the Everglades, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, might close earlier than expected. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed reporting by The New York Times that Florida officials are in talks with the Trump administration over the future of the facility. Meghan Bowman from member station WUSF in Tampa has been covering the detention center, and she's with us now. Hi, Meghan.
MEGHAN BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hi.
NADWORNY: So remind us of the unique nature of this detention center.
BOWMAN: Right. So it opened last summer in July in the middle of the Everglades, this swampy marshland in South Florida that has a lot of alligators. That's how state officials came up with the name. It's at a small training airport, and DeSantis took control of the facility using emergency power so it could be built in eight days. Plus, everything had to be trucked in, like water, generators, even tents for housing. So now it's a - you know, a tent city on the runway. All sewage and trash gets trucked out. And it's in the middle of nowhere, which was the idea behind it - that if people escaped, they'd run into alligators and other wildlife. And ever since it opened, there've been complaints about inhumane conditions of detainees and environmental concerns of the facility operating in a very sensitive ecosystem.
NADWORNY: OK. So I understand that the state of Florida is running the facility and then paying for all of it, at least for now.
BOWMAN: Well, kind of. Yeah. Since they built this facility from scratch and there was no existing infrastructure, it cost a lot of money, and it continues to drain the state. But public records show the state prepared this cost breakdown when they applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The understanding was the state would be reimbursed and that the center would run at least through June of 2027. So they show it cost Florida about $750,000 a day to operate. The New York Times reports that number is actually a little closer to $1 million a day. So including a one-time cost to build it, the state's total yearly cost was nearly $1.4 billion. So far, it's been the state covering that expense, not the federal government. They did get a letter to get reimbursed by the feds, but no money has arrived yet.
NADWORNY: So what is Governor Ron DeSantis saying about that money and the future of the detention center?
BOWMAN: Well, the governor has always said that the state will get reimbursed. DeSantis says he talked to FEMA about it the other day and that it will happen soon. He's always said he was just helping DHS and ICE get enough detention beds temporarily for their immigration enforcement. Now, he says, if DHS can handle the detainees, he's happy to close Alligator Alcatraz.
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RON DESANTIS: It was always designed to be a temporary facility. It has made a major impact. And if we shut the lights out on it tomorrow, we will be able to say it served its purpose because it was responsible for helping with almost 22,000 illegal aliens.
BOWMAN: Now, ICE data shows out of nearly 1,400 male detainees there now, 900 have no criminal record.
NADWORNY: So what's next for the detention center?
BOWMAN: We're going to see if things are really going to wind down early. I should note that nationwide ICE and DHS efforts to expand immigration detention has faced tough and often bipartisan backlash, but lawsuits over environmental concerns and the treatment of detainees are still working their way through its courts. There's also a public petition to close the facility. It has more than 53,000 signatures.
NADWORNY: That's Meghan Bowman of member Station WUSF in Tampa. Thanks for your reporting.
BOWMAN: Thank you.
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