OCHOPEE, Fla. — Deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as “Alligator Alcatraz” began in the past few days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.
The flights operated by the Department of Homeland Security have transferred about 100 detainees from the immigration detention center to other countries, said DeSantis, who expects that number to increase soon.
“I think you’re going to see the numbers go up dramatically,” DeSantis said during a news conference near the South Florida detention center.
Officials said that two or three flights have departed from the site so far, but they didn’t say where those flights headed.
Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane. DeSantis and other Republican officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Building the facility in the Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents, DeSantis and other officials have said.
The White House has delighted in the area’s remoteness — about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Miami — and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators. It hopes to convey a message to detainees and the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the United States are not followed.
The center was built in eight days over 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) of the Everglades. It features more than 200 security cameras, more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel.
It currently holds about 2,000 people, with the potential to double the capacity, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday.
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