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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the United States confirmed this Wednesday that all detainees at the immigration center known as Alligator Alcatraz, in the southern Everglades of Florida, have been transferred to other facilities, but did not clarify whether the closure would be permanent or temporary.
The DHS spokesperson, Lauren Bis, justified the measure succinctly: "For the safety of the undocumented detainees, we are transferring them to other facilities."
The authorities did not specify how many people were relocated or to which centers they were sent.
The announcement came almost simultaneously as the National Hurricane Center reported the formation of the first tropical storm of the 2026 season off the coast of Texas, reinforcing the official rationale for the evacuation of the facility.
The center was built in just eight days through state emergency powers and was inaugurated by Trump and DeSantis on July 3, 2025, a month after the start of that hurricane season, which ended without any storm making landfall in Florida.
The federal government's ambiguity regarding the future of the facility contrasts with the statements of Governor Ron DeSantis, who said in May that the installation "has always been designed as something temporary" and that 22,000 detainees have been processed and deported since its opening.
The attorney Katie Blankenship from Sanctuary of the South confirmed that the 50 clients whom she and other lawyers were advising for free were moved to facilities in southern Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas, without the authorities formally notifying their legal representatives.
"Everyone is gone," declared Blankenship, who learned of the transfers when her clients failed to appear for hearings or respond to calls, and had to locate them using the official inmate search tool.
Since its opening, the center has accumulated systematic complaints: overcrowding of between 27 and 32 people per cell, undrinkable water, worms in the food, non-functioning toilets, floors flooded with fecal waste, and delays of up to 72 hours to receive medical attention. Detainees reported these inhumane conditions since the first months of operation.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit due to a lack of access to legal representation. Their attorney, Amy Godshall, was straightforward in assessing the transfer: "Removing individuals from this cruel facility is an important step, but it doesn’t erase the harm that has already been done. The state and federal government must permanently close this facility and commit to never detaining people there again."
Among those affected, there is a significant number of Cubans, many of whom are elderly individuals with decades of residence in the United States. According to a report by Human Rights Watch published on May 27, 2026, titled "They Abandon Us Here to Die," between January 2025 and March 2026, 4,353 Cubans were deported to Mexico, making them the largest national group among those deported to that country. Of the 53 deportees interviewed, 41 were Cubans, and 17 were aged 60 or older.
The operating cost of the center reached approximately 1.2 million dollars per day, with total expenses exceeding 1.1 billion dollars as of this June, according to records obtained by the environmental organization Friends of the Everglades, which maintains an active lawsuit to achieve the permanent closure of the facility.
"I believe that, when all is said and done, it will be seen as a dark chapter in the history of the Everglades," warned Eve Samples, the executive director of that organization.
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