DOJ contradicts DeSantis: Some detainees at 'Alligator Alcatraz' likely
never in removal proceedings
[October 07, 2025]
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. government lawyers say that detainees at the
immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as
“Alligator Alcatraz” likely include people who have never been in
removal proceedings, which is a direct contradiction to what Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been saying since it opened in July.
Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice made that admission
Thursday in a court filing arguing that the detainees at the facility in
the Everglades wilderness don't have enough in common to be certified as
a class in a lawsuit over whether they're getting proper access to
attorneys.
A removal proceeding is a legal process initiated by the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security to determine if someone should be deported from the
United States.
The DOJ attorneys wrote that the detainees at the Everglades facility
have too many different immigration statuses to be considered a class.
“The proposed class includes all detainees at Alligator Alcatraz, a
facility that houses detainees in all stages of immigration processing —
presumably including those who have never been in removal proceedings,
those who will be placed into removal proceedings, those who are already
subject to final orders of removal, those subject to expedited removal,
and those detained for the purpose of facilitation removal from the
United States pursuant to a final order of removal,” they wrote.
Since the facility opened, DeSantis has been saying publicly that each
detainee has gone through the process of determining that they can't
legally be in the United States.
During a July 25 news conference outside the detention center, DeSantis
said, “Everybody here is already on a final removal order."
“They have been ordered to be removed from the country,” he added.
At a July 29 speech before a conference of the Florida Sheriffs
Association, the Republican governor said, “The people that are going to
the Alligator Alcatraz are illegally in the country. They’ve all already
been given a final order of removal."
He added, “So, if you have an order to be removed, what is the possible
objection to the federal government enforcing that removal order?”
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Trucks come and go from the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration
detention center in the Florida Everglades, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025,
in Collier County, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
DeSantis' press office didn't respond Monday morning to an email
seeking comment.
The court filing by the DOJ attorneys was made in a lawsuit in which
civil rights groups allege the facility's detainees have been denied
proper access to attorneys in violation of their constitutional
rights. The civil rights groups on Thursday asked a federal judge in
Fort Myers for a preliminary injunction that would establish
stronger protections for detainees to meet with attorneys privately
and share documents confidentially.
The court case is one of three lawsuits filed by environmental and
civil rights groups over the detention center, which was hastily
built this summer by the state of Florida and operated by private
contractors and state agencies.
A federal judge in Miami ordered in August that the facility must
wind down operations within two months, agreeing with environmental
groups that the remote airstrip site wasn’t given a proper
environmental review before it was converted into an immigration
detention center. But operations continued after the judge’s
preliminary injunction was put on hold in early September by an
appellate court panel. At one point, the facility held more than 900
detainees, but most of them were transferred after the initial
injunction. It wasn't clear on Monday how many detainees were at the
center, which was built to hold 3,000 people.
President Donald Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it
could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration
pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
Federal officials on Friday confirmed that Florida has been approved
for a $608 million reimbursement for the costs of building and
running the immigration detention center.
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