Florida opens "Alligator Alcatraz" tent detention camp in Everglades at $450 million annual cost

Florida opened a tent detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades wetlands; NPR reported on the day of the presidential tour (a Tuesday) that officials confirmed it was on track to open with some 5,000 beds, about half its overall capacity, by early July. DHS told NPR that running it would cost Florida some $450 million for one year, which Florida Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith put at three times the cost of using existing buildings and at over $90,000 a year per person at a 5,000 capacity (CBS station WPEC). Built on the Dade-Collier Airport runway, the facility housed migrants in tents in summer heat; environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe sued over the absence of environmental review.

What happened next, by date and kind. On 08/21/2025 (district-court order date) the court enjoined the officials from adding site lighting, paving, fencing or other site expansion, and from bringing additional persons onto the site; in late August 2025 NPR reported that the state’s emergency-management director had written the population would be “down to 0 individuals”, a projection, not a confirmed evacuation. On Sept. 4, 2025 (order date) an Eleventh Circuit motions panel stayed the injunction pending appeal, so the 60-day wind-down never took effect; the court of appeals vacated the injunction on 04/21/2026 (opinion filing date) (2026-04-21–eleventh-circuit-vacates-alligator-alcatraz-injunction-nepa-1252f). DHS OIG inspected the facility in January 2026 and reports it ceased operations in June 2026 (2026-09-11–dhs-oig-alligator-alcatraz-inspection-79-detainees-in-18-sq-ft-metal-enclosures).