Florida’s immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” is shutting down for good. Kevin Guthrie, the state’s Emergency Management director, told vendors Monday morning to begin “full demobilization” of the Everglades site — fencing coming down, trailers and other structures hauled out.
The order ends a $1.2 billion operation that both Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump had held up as a model for other states. Four sources familiar with the facility’s operations confirmed the demobilization notice. “All vendors got the notice,” one source said.
Guthrie, speaking on a morning conference call, told the companies he expected “significant progress by Wednesday” on clearing the site. Each vendor’s contract included a demobilization clause; invoking it triggered the wind-down process.
The final detainees left last week — transferred to other detention centers or deported to third countries. At the time, federal and state officials publicly framed the departures as a precaution ahead of hurricane season and suggested the facility could still accept new detainees. That wasn’t the plan. Sources familiar with the operation say full demobilization was always the intended next step once the site emptied.
Speculation about the facility’s future had been circulating for roughly two months. The site sat in the middle of the Florida Everglades — remote by design, contentious by consequence — and drew criticism throughout its short run. Whether any of the $1.2 billion spent can be recovered through the demobilization contracts wasn’t immediately clear.
