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Detainees Moved Out of Alligator Alcatraz, ICE Confirms [View all]
By Amy Green
June 18, 2026
Inmates have been moved out of Alligator Alcatraz, the Everglades migrant detention site, the Trump administration confirmed Wednesday to Inside Climate News.
“As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility,” according to a statement provided by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. “For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.”
For weeks, speculation has swirled amid reports the facility would close imminently. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been funding the site using the state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, after issuing an executive order in 2023 declaring a state of emergency related to immigration. More than $6.5 billion has been disbursed from the fund since its establishment in 2022, the vast majority for hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Some $573 million has gone toward immigration, including Alligator Alcatraz.
“As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility,” according to a statement provided by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. “For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.”
For weeks, speculation has swirled amid reports the facility would close imminently. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been funding the site using the state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, after issuing an executive order in 2023 declaring a state of emergency related to immigration. More than $6.5 billion has been disbursed from the fund since its establishment in 2022, the vast majority for hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Some $573 million has gone toward immigration, including Alligator Alcatraz.
Other litigation has accused the federal and state governments of unlawful activity involving the treatment of detainees and polluting air emissions, associated with more than 200 diesel-burning generators and 100 diesel-burning lighting towers installed at the site.
“If it is true that folks have been removed from the site, given its reportedly inhumane conditions, we are grateful. But it does strike me as odd that we have to guess about what’s happening there, right? We don’t operate secret prisons here. We don’t disappear people,” said Paul Schwiep, an attorney representing the environmental groups. “What’s next for this site is an important question.”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18062026/feds-relocate-alligator-alcatraz-detainees/“If it is true that folks have been removed from the site, given its reportedly inhumane conditions, we are grateful. But it does strike me as odd that we have to guess about what’s happening there, right? We don’t operate secret prisons here. We don’t disappear people,” said Paul Schwiep, an attorney representing the environmental groups. “What’s next for this site is an important question.”
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