Lawyers say Alligator Alcatraz detainee transfers are ramping up

Immigration lawyers and advocates say detainees at Alligator Alcatraz are being moved unusually fast to other locations amid reports the detention center in the Everglades could shut down as soon as next month.

Immigration attorney Laura Quintero, who has clients in Central Florida and Tampa, said she heard of detainee relocations happening in less than a week.

"At this time, we have not been given any official explanation as to whether these movements are related to the facility's closure or are part of an internal operational transfer," Quintero said. "But this is a pattern we are actively seeing and monitoring."

Over the past week, eight flights, each with a capacity of 50 passengers, traveled between Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport - the site of Alligator Alcatraz -and Alexandria, Louisiana, home to another prominent immigration detention center, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24.

In April, Alligator Alcatraz held 1,383 detainees, according to the latest available federal immigration statistics reported by Syracuse University's TRAC database.

Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst and consultant at the Florida Immigrant Coalition, a nonprofit that supports immigrant communities, said he heard from families of detainees at Alligator Alcatraz about unusual activity by workers inside.

"They said certain sections of the detention center are being dismantled," he said.

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., told The Tampa Bay Times he's heard concerning reports of "rushed detainee transfers."

"Our office is now working diligently to determine where ICE is transferring individuals from Alligator Alcatraz," Frost said.

Detainees, family members and lawyers have complained about human rights violations at Alligator Alcatraz and environmental damage to sensitive wetlands since the site opened in July.The state used about $600 million to build it, which Gov. Ron DeSantis and others have said will be reimbursed by the federal government. Specifics on such a reimbursement remain unclear.

The relocations have raised questions about the future of the so-called Deportation Depot at Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, about 40 miles west of Jacksonville. The site, also under the state's umbrella, has space for 1,300 beds.

A potential Panhandle detention center, known as "Panhandle Pokey," "is no longer being proposed," a Department of Homeland Securityspokesperson told the Times.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has plans to build, buy and renovate warehouses nationwide to use as detention centers and processing facilities.

Florida is home to five centers operated by federal agencies or private contractors, with more than 10,000 beds combined. The Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said "it should not come as news" that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving detainees and expanding detention space.

But Miami immigration attorney Patricia Elizee said advocates and other lawyers in Florida are worried about how quickly people are being moved, especially from Alligator Alcatraz without notice.

"The lack of transparency surrounding the process is not only frustrating but is also increasing fear and uncertainty for detainees and their families," Elizee said.

Gina M. Fraga, an immigration attorney in South Florida, said a group of about 40 detainees were moved to California days before The New York Times reported in early May that the state was in talks with the Trump administration to shut down Alligator Alcatraz.

One of Fraga's clients was transferred. Authorities were supposed to notify Fraga, but she said shenever received notice.

Fort Lauderdale immigration attorney Mark Hamburger said the relocation of detainees could also be related to a recent court decision. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Florida, Georgia and Alabama, issued a ruling in early May rejecting a no-bond policy implemented by the Trump administration for people in immigration proceedings.

Homeland Security SecretaryMarkwayne Mullin said last week that the department had no immediate plans to shut down Alligator Alcatraz, CBS News reported.

In a statement, the department said any reports that it is "pressuring" the state to endoperations at Alligator Alcatraz are false.

The center is operated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and DeSantis has said it "was always designed to be temporary."

Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which has sued the state over Alligator Alcatraz, said the state hasn't been transparent about the project since its earliest days, and the potential shutdown is no different.

"Alligator Alcatraz was planned in secret, built in secret, operated in secret and, now, the reported closure is playing out in secret, too," Samples said.

(Times staff writer Ashley Borja contributed to this report.)

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This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 2:10 AM.