All detainees transferred from Alligator Alcatraz to other facilities in Florida: DHS

All inmates at “Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigration detention center The Florida Evergladeshave been transferred to other agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security, citing concerns during the storm.

The organization said that all those detained at the center have been transferred, although it did not specify how many were taken. Some of these detainees will be transferred to the “Deportation Depot,” another ICE facility in Sanderson, Florida, located in the northern part of the state.

DHS also did not say if the migrants would stay in the new facilities long-term or if the transfers were temporary.

“As we enter hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens to a soft-sided facility. To protect illegal detainees, we have transferred them to other facilities,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News in a statement.

‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ GUARDS, PAPER-WORKED PRISONERS, LAWYER SAYS

The hurricane season lasts six months, from June to November. “Alligator Alcatraz” opened on July 3, 2025, just one month after the start of last year’s hurricane season, which ended without the storms that hit the Sunshine State.

Shortly after the evacuation announcement, the National Hurricane Center said the first tropical storm of this year’s hurricane season had formed off the Texas coast.

The controversial federal facility has been praised by President Donald Trump but has been criticized by lawyers and human rights groups for its harsh conditions and poor treatment of detainees.

Detainees at the facility reported a lack of lawyers and poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, unwashed toilets, floors littered with feces and insects everywhere.

This government-run institution in special positions has been criticized by lawyers and human rights organizations because of its harsh conditions and the careless treatment of detainees. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“Getting people out of this brutal facility is an important step, but it doesn’t undo the damage that has already been done,” said Amy Godshall, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who filed a lawsuit against the state and federal government alleging that inmates cannot be represented, the statement said. “The government and the federal government must close this facility permanently and commit to not detaining people there again.”

This facility, surrounded by alligator-infested swamps in the Florida Everglades, was built by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to support Trump’s plan to detain and deport immigrants.

Trump visited the facility two days before it opened last summer. The facility has processed and deported more than 20,000 inmates since it opened.

DeSantis said last month that the detention facility was always meant to be temporary.

RON DESANTIS’ FUTURE IN ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ CONTEST REVEALS ICE HOLDINGSWE

President Donald Trump visited the facility two days before it opened last summer. (Getty Images)

Lawyers and immigration attorneys said the timing of the storm was just an excuse and not the real reason why the detainees were transferred to other places. They said they noticed that the number of prisoners being transferred to other institutions has increased in the past few weeks, which has caused them to lose contact with a large number of prisoners during the transfer.

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“That’s a lame excuse because they opened during the worst of the hurricanes last year,” said Arianne Betancourt, a public advocate at the non-governmental organization The Workers Circle who has spent months connecting inmates with lawyers.

“They’re all gone,” Blankenship added. “They are removed and disappear from the system and are not available to the family or the counselor, usually for a week.”

Bill Melugin of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.