The Florida detention center nicknamed Alcatraz, a symbol of tough deportation policies, is ending. After nearly 21,000 deportations, they ordered his demobilization.
The detention center for migrants in Florida, also known by the nickname “Alcatraz”, which has become a symbol of US President Donald Trump’s deportation policy, has been closed after less than a year of operation, authorities there said on Thursday. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the facility is currently unoccupied and has served its purpose.
“The Alcatraz Alligator has accomplished the task for which it was designed,” announced DeSantis. The device, he said, helped remove “a lot of dangerous people” from Florida and the United States.
The facility has drawn sharp criticism from lawyers, detainees’ families, human rights organizations and activists, who have accused the US government of subjecting detained migrants to cruel conditions and denying them their right to due process.
Deportations and transfers
DeSantis said in May that the center has secured a total of nearly 21,000 deportations.
Officials added that the latest detainees were either transferred to other centers or deported, with federal and state authorities initially calling the moves a safety precaution related to the start of hurricane season.
Closing the device
Contractors tasked with operating the facility have been ordered to begin demobilizing the facility, according to US media, closing a chapter on a project that Trump and DeSantis once promoted as a possible model for other states.
Authorities opened the camp in July 2025 at an abandoned airport in the middle of the mangrove forests, swamps and grasslands that together make up the Everglades Conservation Area. The national park is mainly known for the large number of alligators that find their natural habitat here.
