ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for $218 million the state spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz.”
The center may soon be completely empty as a judge upheld her decision late Wednesday ordering operations to wind down indefinitely.
Shutting down the facility for the time being would cost the state $15 million to $20 million immediately, and it would cost another $15 million to $20 million to reinstall structures if Florida is allowed to reopen it, according to court filings by the state.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management will lose most of the value of the $218 million it has invested in making the little-used airport suitable for a detention center, a state official said in court papers.
Built in just a few days, the facility consists of chain-link cages surrounding large white tents filled with rows of bunk beds. As of late July, state officials had already signed more than $245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1.
President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
The center has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system.
If they follow the order.
It’s exactly that. They’re going to ignore court orders sooner or later.
Donald will just use a pos EO saying to leave it open, and people will think EO’s are laws.
I feel sorry for those floridians who didn’t vote for this.
*Aligator Auschwitz. FTFW.
State of morons. They deserve it.
But hey, Trump and his buddies just made 218 million.
When have conservatives actually cared about losing money?
When they can blame it on a Democrat leader
Bingo
Are they winning yet?
AP focusing on the most important part as usual 🙄
It’s not like this is their first story on the place. They’ve covered the abuse. I do wish they’d ball up and call it a concentration camp, though.
we can’t shut it down, man. we’ve already spent a gorrillian dollars on the concentration camp 🥺
More like a lack-of-concentration camp.
Oh man, your taxpayer money was wasted on a concentration camp.
It’s almost like you could have voted against this somehow…
I did.
You have to convince your brain dead cronies who didn’t though
Ever tried convincing someone that roots for Manchester United to instead root for Liverpool?
They t be neighbors, but they aren’t cronies.
But there’s no money for healthcare or feeding children.
Lmao
I’d vote to pay taxes on three times that amount if it would put a stop to all of this…
The party of “fiscal responsibility”, everyone!
Could not happen to a nicer bunch of MAGAts.
won’t someone think of the bottom line
