MIAMI – Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that all detainees at a controversial immigration detention center located in the Florida Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” have been transferred to other facilities. This move comes amid concerns regarding the hurricane season.
The South Florida Detention Center has garnered attention from various quarters, including praise from former President Donald Trump. However, it has faced severe criticism from lawyers, families, and human rights groups who have raised alarm over the treatment of detainees since the facility opened around 11 months ago, coinciding with the Atlantic hurricane season.
DHS reported that all detainees have been moved but didn’t disclose how many were transferred or their new locations. The agency also did not clarify whether the facility would close for good or just temporarily.
“For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities,” stated DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis in an email.
The hurricane season, which spans from June to November, is a time of heightened weather-related risks. The detention facility opened on July 3, 2025, just a month after the start of that year’s hurricane season, which fortunately concluded without any major storms hitting Florida. Since then, the center has remained operational.
Shortly after the DHS announcement, the National Hurricane Center reported the formation of the first tropical storm of the 2026 hurricane season off the Texas coast.
Detainees at the center have spoken out about their dire conditions, mentioning difficulties in accessing legal support and describing unsanitary living situations, including food contamination, malfunctioning toilets, and excessive insects.
Surrounded by swamps filled with alligators, “Alligator Alcatraz” was constructed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration in a remarkably short time. Trump himself visited the site just two days before it opened.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the facility, did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press regarding the recent developments.
Advocates for immigration reform have criticized the treatment of detainees at the center, arguing that it was never a suitable environment for holding people. Despite claims from federal and state officials that the facility was equipped to handle hurricanes, many believe it was fundamentally unsafe.
“Transferring people out of this cruel facility is an important step, but it does not erase the harm that has already been done,” said Amy Godshall, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. She has filed a lawsuit against state and federal authorities for failing to ensure detainees have access to legal representation. “The state and federal government must permanently close this facility and commit to never detaining people there again.”
In May, DeSantis mentioned that the South Florida Detention Facility was intended to be a temporary solution. He reported that the facility had processed and deported approximately 22,000 detainees since its opening.
However, many immigration advocates and lawyers claim that citing the hurricane season as a reason for transferring detainees is just an excuse.
“That’s a nonsense excuse because they opened in the middle of the worst part of hurricane season last year,” said Arianne Betancourt, a community advocate with The Workers Circle, who has been working to connect detainees with pro-bono legal assistance.
Betancourt and other advocates have noticed an uptick in detainee transfers over the past two weeks, losing contact with many individuals during this time. Katie Blankenship, an immigration attorney at Sanctuary of the South, confirmed that all 50 clients she has been assisting have been moved from “Alligator Alcatraz” to facilities in locations like South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas.
“They are all gone,” Blankenship stated. “They have been moved and disappeared into the system and are unavailable to family or counsel, typically for about a week.”
She pointed out that she had not received official notifications about these transfers, learning instead that her clients were missing due to their absence at hearings or calls. She was able to track them down using an official detainee search tool.
Families of the detainees are left in a state of uncertainty. Renata Bozzetto, deputy director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, emphasized that the closure of the facility will not erase the harm done to families. “Many of the people detained there will be transferred to other detention facilities, while their families continue to face uncertainty and hardship,” Bozzetto noted. “When this detention camp closes, many corporations and contractors will have walked away with millions in profits, while immigrant families are left to pick up the pieces.”
