Florida’s Governor is adding another illegal immigrant warehouse to supplement Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades.
“We’ll probably also do something similar up at Camp Blanding. … We have some capacity there. Kevin Guthrie and the Division of Emergency Management are working on that,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa.
The first Alligator Alcatraz hasn’t been completed yet, but it’s coming to the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on the edge of the Everglades National Park.
Though the Camp Blanding site thus far is purely conceptual, DeSantis says Florida will be “fully reimbursed.”
And reporting from The Associated Press confirms that Alligator Alcatraz will bring federal funds to the state.
The vendor-managed project is expected to cost $245 per bed, or $450 million a year, and will be reimbursed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The facilities are needed, DeSantis said, because local jails can’t handle the influx of suspected illegal aliens.
“We can’t have every illegal housed in our jails because we actually have non-illegals who need to be housed there when they commit crimes too,” DeSantis said.
“If they’re temporarily held, then they can be repatriated to their home country. That takes burdens away from the state of Florida and for Florida residents.”
The Governor also assured reporters there were “zero” environmental concerns about the South Florida site, and pointed to his record in office as proof that no one should worry.
“I mean, you’re talking about the guy that’s plowed how much money into Everglades Restoration? Why would I want to do anything that would do (damage)?”
Besides the “zero impact” of Alligator Alcatraz, DeSantis said the location offered a logistical boost because it’s “already there” and is as “safe and secure as you can be.”
“If someone escapes, there’s a lot of alligators (with which) you’re going to have to contend. No one’s going anywhere once you do that,” he remarked.
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Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Republished with permission.
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