The migrant center known as Alligator Alcatraz, in the Florida Everglades, operated with an authorized rate of 249 dollars per day per detainee, approximately 171% above the median of 92 dollars recorded in facilities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during fiscal year 2026, according to a new federal report.
The information appears in a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent agency of Congress responsible for auditing federal programs and expenditures.
The document examined several initiatives undertaken by ICE to rapidly expand its detention capacity and warned of planning issues, costs, and potential waste of public funds.
In the case of Alligator Alcatraz, officially named Florida Soft-Sided Facility, the GAO noted that ICE did not instruct the state of Florida to open the center and also did not sign a contract or agreement authorizing its operation as a federal immigration detention facility.
ICE officials claimed that an existing agreement under section 287(g) with Miami-Dade County served as the basis for using the space.
However, the GAO indicated that those documents did not mention the installation nor did they show that ICE had approved Florida to operate it as an immigration detention center.
The agency paid special attention to how the costs were determined. ICE typically negotiates rates before signing contracts or agreements with detention facilities, but in this case it did not follow that procedure or negotiate the price beforehand, according to the report.
The fee of 249 dollars corresponds to the amount authorized by the Grant Program for Support to Detention, intended to cover the lodging for one day of an adult detainee at the facility. Compared to ICE's median of 92 dollars during fiscal year 2026, the difference amounts to approximately 171 %.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had allocated 608.4 million dollars to Florida under that program to fund the center.
By May 2026, approximately 58.2 million had been disbursed for eligible expenses, including personnel, supplies, food, and services for the detainees.
The investigation was also covered by Tampa Bay Times, which highlighted that the lack of a prior agreement and the high costs led the GAO to warn about a potential waste of resources.
PBS NewsHour placed the case within a broader review of ICE's expansion plans, in which the GAO questioned other costly initiatives and warned that the agency lacked a comprehensive strategic plan to manage the rapid growth of its detention capacity.
From Florida, the response to the report was decisive. Stephanie Hartman, spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, stated that “no one takes the GAO seriously” and argued that illegal immigration costs American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, as noted by International Business Times.
The report on costs is known shortly after another federal investigation that questioned the detention conditions at Alligator Alcatraz.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security documented overcrowding, cramped spaces, insufficient recreational activities, and the use of small metal cages.
That report confirmed several of the allegations previously made by detainees and humanitarian organizations.
One of the most recent testimonies was that of the Cuban Raúl Suárez Herrero, who claimed to have been locked in a small metal cage inside the facility for over 15 hours.
The man said he couldn't lie down, he didn't receive any food, and he remained exposed to mosquitoes throughout the night.
Concerns about the cost of the center are not new either. As early as June, estimates emerged suggesting that the expenses for Alligator Alcatraz significantly exceeded those of other immigration facilities, although those comparisons used calculations and methodologies different from the specific rate currently analyzed by the GAO.
Alligator Alcatraz opened in July 2025 at the Dade-Collier training airport in Ochopee, and closed in June 2026.
The GAO indicated that the facility housed an average of 1,386 detainees during fiscal year 2026, and that Florida cited its closure, among other reasons, due to the temporary nature of the center.
GAO recommended that the Department of Homeland Security improve the planning for future expansions of detention capacity to reduce the risk of unnecessary expenses and poorly substantiated decisions.
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