The controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” deportation prison has had its day.Image: keystone
June 26, 2026, 9:21 a.mJune 26, 2026, 9:21 a.m
The infamous deportation center with the pithy name “Alligator Alcatraz” in the swamps of Florida is closing almost exactly a year after it opened. This was announced by the Republican governor of the US state in the southern United States, Ron DeSantis. There are no more prisoners there. The facility had been temporarily closed since early June because officials said it was unsafe to house detainees in the Florida Everglades due to hurricane season. Now the final closure follows.
Meanwhile, DeSantis pointed out that the facility in the Everglades was intended as an emergency solution from the start. US media, on the other hand, recently reported that horrendous operating costs could be a reason for the closure.
Ron DeSantis announces the end of Alligator Alcatraz.Image: keystone
Alligator Alcatraz had become a symbol of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation policy. The US government had specifically placed the prison in the swamps so that no prisoner would attempt to escape out of fear of the alligators.
According to DeSantis, “many dangerous people” were deported to Alligator Alcatraz. According to him, a total of around 22,000 people were passed through the center.
This is how Florida’s attorney general originally announced the project:
Video: twitter/AGJamesUthmeier
Criticism of cage-like cells
After President Trump personally opened the new prison in the summer of 2025, within a few days tents for thousands of prisoners and mobile accommodation for employees were erected on a little-used airfield. Opponents of the project had criticized, among other things, cage-like cells for prisoners and poor hygiene. The government had rejected the allegations. Several courts dealt with the facility.
The infamous prison island of Alcatraz served as the inspiration for the now-closed deportation center.Image: keystone
The government’s chosen name “Alligator Alcatraz” alludes to the notorious Alcatraz maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay. From 1934 to 1963 it was the most feared prison in the United States. The rocky island “The Rock” was considered an escape-proof place of exile for the “worst of the worst”. (sda/dpa)