Detainees at Florida's Alligator Alcatraz transferred elsewhere as detention centre likely to be closed, says ICE

Published 17 June 2026 · us

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on Tuesday (local time) said that detainees at the Florida detention centre, also known as "Alligator Alcatraz,"

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on Tuesday (local time) said that detainees at the Florida detention centre, also known as "Alligator Alcatraz," have been moved to other facilities. The development comes as the US prepares for a hurricane season, NBC News reported. In a statement, ICE said, "As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility. For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities." However, the statement did not elaborate on how many detainees or where they are being transferred. The detention facility in Florida was opened last year in July by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' administration to support the immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.

Florida Governor on Alligator Alcatraz facility DeSantis, who was asked about the facility at a news conference on Tuesday, said, "The state doesn’t direct people there. It’s DHS that directs them there. And so if DHS stops directing them there, then we obviously are not just going to. It was never meant to be permanent." He added, "I don’t think that it’s empty now, at least as of yesterday when I got briefed on it, but they’ve had tens, hundreds of billions of dollars plowed into that agency.” DeSantis said the facility was always meant to be a temporary detention centre and that the federal government is reimbursing the state for over $600 million in costs for the facility.

“I think when we did it, we thought that it would be six months to a year in terms of the necessity of it,” he said Tuesday. Alligator Alcatraz faces intense scrutiny Alligator Alcatraz facility is located at a remote airstrip in Big Cypress Preserve and has been the subject of several lawsuits and complaints about the conditions inside. Earlier in April, a federal appellate court ruled to keep the detention facility open for the time being and blocked a lower court's order to wind down operations, finding that it did not comply with federal environmental laws. A majority of judges on a three-member panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Florida-operated facility was not subject to federal oversight and therefore did not need to undergo an environmental impact assessment mandated under federal law.

However, some reports surfaced last month suggesting the facility's closure could be as early as June. Florida immigration arrests surge Immigration arrests in Florida have risen sharply during President Donald Trump's second term, often attracting little public attention because many begin with routine traffic stops. Public support for the enforcement effort appears to be growing, while state and local agencies involved in the operations have consistently denied requests for arrest records and body-camera footage, citing guidance from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).