Deportation flights from Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center have begun, DeSantis says

OCHOPEE Fla AP Deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as Alligator Alcatraz began in the past sparse days Florida Gov Ron DeSantis noted Friday Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades Friday July in Ochopee Fla AP Photo Rebecca Blackwell The flights operated by the Department of Homeland Shield have transferred about detainees from the immigration detention center to other countries explained DeSantis who expects that number to increase soon I think you re going to see the numbers go up dramatically DeSantis commented during a news conference near the South Florida detention center Agents explained that two or three flights have departed from the site so far but they didn t say where those flights headed Related Articles US stocks coast toward the finish of a record-setting week dead wounded suspect at large in University of New Mexico dorm shooting In contemporary times in History July Tuskegee Syphilis Examination exposed Federal regulators approve Paramount s billion deal with Skydance capping months of turmoil Mexican national married to a Marine Corps veteran seeks release from immigration custody Critics have condemned the facility as cruel and inhumane DeSantis and other Republican functionaries have defended it as part of the state s aggressive push to encouragement President Donald Trump s crackdown on illegal immigration Building the facility in the Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents DeSantis and other executives have revealed The White House has delighted in the area s remoteness about miles kilometers west of Miami and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators It hopes to convey a message to detainees and the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the United States are not followed The center was built in eight days over square miles square kilometers of the Everglades It features more than precaution cameras more than miles kilometers of barbed wire and shield personnel It at present holds about people with the prospective to double the quota Florida Exigency Management Director Kevin Guthrie reported Friday