(NewsNation) — At least 100 people have been deported from Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility since it opened, Gov. Ron DeSantis DeSantis said at a Friday conference at the detention center.
“There have been 100 folks who have been fully deported,” DeSantis said. “And there have been many hundreds who have been exited this facility and are en route to deported by the federal government.”
DeSantis said the flight “cadence is increasing.”
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ could expand, deputize immigration judges: DeSantis
The center could expand its maximum capacity and footprint, depending on demand, according to DeSantis.
If more space is needed, expansion could potentially include Camp Blanding, the state’s primary National Guard training site in Clay County.
DeSantis is also looking to enlarge the on-site capabilities of the center. He said the Department of Justice is working “very closely” with Florida to deputize state officers to act as immigration judges.
“The vision is to have them on-site. You can move forward with the processing very quickly, and increase the numbers — and the flow, there’d be a high turnover rate here because you’d be constantly doing that,” DeSantis said.
The Trump-backed policy would see Florida’s nine National Guard Judge Advocate Corps officers serving as immigration judges, according to the state’s Immigration Enforcement Plan outline.
“This was never intended to be something where people are just held and we just kind of twiddle our thumbs,” DeSantis said. “The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens, and that is the goal.”
DeSantis calls on other states to build detention camps
The “Alligator Alcatraz” facility, built within days with the ability to hold thousands of people, opened earlier this month.
President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials toured the Everglades center on July 1, praising it as a good use of the abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
“This airport is able to accept commercial-sized aircraft and conduct both day and nighttime operations, and so that’s what it’s all about,” DeSantis said on Friday.
DeSantis also echoed the administration’s call for more states to build similar facilities.
So far, the state has signed at least $245 million in contracts to open and operate it, according to publicly available state data.
Activists for immigrant rights and environmental issues have decried the facility and its location, deeming it dangerous for the folks housed there and the surrounding environment.
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