May 13, 2026, 07:42May 13, 2026, 07:42
According to media reports, the US deportation center in Florida’s swamp area called “Alligator Alcatraz” is set to close. Officials told contractors on site Tuesday afternoon that the detention center in the Everglades would be closed, the New York Times reported. Entrepreneurs who were commissioned by the state of Florida to operate the facility were informed that the facility was being wound down, CBS News Miami also reported.
The US deportation center “Alligator Alcatraz” is set to close, according to reports.Image: keystone
According to CBS, the last inmate is expected to leave the site in June. According to media reports, it is unclear where the approximately 1,400 prisoners will be taken instead. The U.S. government operates many such deportation centers, including others in the state of Florida. Its Republican governor Ron DeSantis had confirmed an earlier report in the New York Times, according to which the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” had already been discussed at the federal level.
The government justified its choice of location by saying that the swamps, populated by alligators, were intended to deter prisoners from escaping. The name “Alcatraz” alludes to the notorious maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay.
Resistance to the facility since day one
Since US President Donald Trump opened it last summer, there have been protests and lawsuits against the detention center in the middle of the Everglades. In September, an appeals court ruled that the facility did not have to be dismantled. Environmentalists who feared damage to endangered species in the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States had sued.
The court justified its ruling by saying that the public interest outweighed the arguments put forward by environmentalists. There was also talk of considerable costs for dismantling. Now, according to the US media, the horrendous operating costs, which now amount to almost a billion US dollars (around 850 million euros), could be a reason for the end. (dab/sda/dpa)