“Alligator Alcatraz,” the remote Florida immigration detention center that faced harsh criticism for its conditions, is gone after Gov. Ron DeSantis said the facility has shut down last month.
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Aerial footage on Tuesday showed the site of the facility in the Everglades empty.
There were no tents or major installations, as well as signs of “Alligator Alcatraz.”
DeSantis in June said the center at an isolated airstrip in the Everglades was always meant to be only temporary until more permanent detention centers could be secured and federal officials now have that capacity.
“It served its purpose for the time,” the Republican governor said at a news conference. “The demobilization efforts at this facility are underway.”
He made the announcement at a news conference at the site, also known as Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, while joined by White House Border Czar Tom Homan.
DeSantis said “Alligator Alcatraz” has “fulfilled the role that it was designed to serve” and “today it now has zero detainees.” The migrants held there remain in federal custody, he said.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the facility earlier in June and sent all of the detainees to other facilities, saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep them in the Everglades.
Immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane for holding people. Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers and described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that didn’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.
The detention center was built by DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days and opened in July 2025. DeSantis and President Donald Trump said the detention center was critical to Republican efforts to return people in the country illegally back to their home countries.
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“There is no question this mission has made the state of Florida safer,” said DeSantis, noting that 21,000 people were deported through the facility.
Lawyers for the immigrants at the facility said their clients suddenly started leaving for other facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana and Texas earlier this month, disappearing for about a week before their attorneys and families were told where they were sent.
Advocates for immigrants said closing “Alligator Alcatraz” does nothing to stop the harm of people who spend months in custody as their families suffer.
The Florida Immigrant Coalition said the only winners were corporations and contractors who profited millions of dollars as Republicans pushed an immigration emergency that does not exist.
DeSantis said the airstrip in the Everglades the facility was built around will continue to be used.
Earlier, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava had announced the county’s intent to sell the isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles west of downtown Miami the land to the National Park Service once the facility was decommissioned.
“From the very beginning, I have raised serious concerns about the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention facility because people have been held there in inhumane conditions without meaningful due process, while occupying land alongside one of the world’s most precious natural ecosystems,” the mayor said in the news release. “Once this facility is decommissioned, we have an opportunity to permanently protect these lands for Everglades restoration and ensure they remain protected for generations to come. That is the legacy we should leave.”
On Monday, Levine Cava told NBC6 what the next steps were for the the aviation training facility.
“We are waiting for the formal return of the property,” Levine Cava said. “But we are inspecting to see what kind of environmental impacts there may be from this year of detention and construction on the site. We also are very eager to return this site to nature, to conservation, so we’ll be exploring the best path forward to do that as soon as possible.”
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