The state of Florida has secured $608 million in federal reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for opening and operating "Alligator Alcatraz," the controversial immigration detention in the Everglades, WPLG Local 10 News Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Local 10 News that Florida's application for FEMA funds was approved on Tuesday, just one day before the federal government shutdown took effect. The state was awarded the full amount it requested.
The detention center was quickly built over the summer at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades. State officials signed more than in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1.
: A DHS spokesperson聽tells me FEMA awarded reimbursement on September 30 (a day before the government shutdown) 鈥渢o the full amount they [Florida] applied for. $608M.鈥澛營t is not immediately clear if the $608M will be exclusively spent on Alligator Alcatraz. 馃У
— Christina Boomer Vazquez, M.S. (@CBoomerVazquez)
President toured the facility and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration continues its aggressive plans to needed to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants.
July, DHS estimated the total cost for operating the Everglades facility alone would be $450 million for one year.
Since then, Florida has expanded its operations, opening a second site dubbed "Deportation Depot" and planning a third facility state officials are calling the 鈥淧anhandle Pokey.鈥�
While the reimbursement application was tied to Alligator Alcatraz, FEMA鈥檚 grant regulations generally allow the funds to be spent on other similar projects.
It is not immediately clear, according to Local 10 News, whether the full $608 million from FEMA will be exclusively allocated to the initial Everglades site.
READ MORE: Inside 'Alligator Alcatraz': Color-coded uniforms, 5:30 am breakfast and strict rules
The makeshift detention center in the middle of the Everglades, which state and federal officials dubbed , has been the target of multiple seeking to shutter the remote compound of tents and trailers.
Two plaintiffs in one of the federal lawsuits said Thursday, in response to the Local 10 News report, said the Everglades detention center is legally required to undergo federal environmental review to protect endangered wildlife because it is receiving federal funds from FEMA.
鈥淭he award of FEMA funds is more clear evidence that activity at Alligator Alcatraz must be halted to comply with bedrock environmental protections," said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
鈥淭his seems to be the smoking gun proving that our lawsuit challenging Alligator Alcatraz is entirely correct,鈥� said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. 鈥淭his is a federal project being built with federal funds that鈥檚 required by federal law to go through a complete environmental review."
"The Trump administration can鈥檛 keep lying through their teeth to the American public at the expense of Florida鈥檚 imperiled wildlife," Bennett said. "We鈥檒l do everything we can to stop this lawless, destructive and wasteful debacle.鈥�
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed their on June 27. They argue that the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) and the Department of Homeland Security did not follow federal requirements to perform environmental impact studies before building the detention center in the environmentally sensitive Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve.
The Miccosukee Tribe later joined the case as a plaintiff in claiming the detention site posed pollution risks to their food and water supplies.
The plaintiffs are represented by Scott Hiaasen, Paul Schwiep, Earthjustice and Center attorneys. During lawsuit hearings it was established that FEMA funding was promised prior to the start of project construction.
Last month, a federal appellate court panel, ruling on the environmental lawsuit, allowed Alligator Alcatraza operations to continue when it put a hold on a lower court鈥檚 preliminary injunction ordering the facility by the end of this month.
A second federal lawsuit claims detainees have been denied private meetings with immigration attorneys while being held at the facility.
challenging practices at the facility claims immigration is a federal issue and Florida agencies and the private contractors hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility.
