Florida governor says state will open ‘deportation depot’ immigration jail

Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Thursday that the state will open a second immigration jail, as a federal judge weighs whether to close the controversial existing facility in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.

DeSantis painted the forthcoming detention center at the shuttered Baker correctional institution in Sanderson as supplementary to the remote tented camp. He also said the facility would hold up to 1,300 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation.

“We need additional capacity beyond what we’re already doing down in south Florida. There’s a massive part here at Baker that isn’t being used. [It’s] ready-made infrastructure,” DeSantis announced during a press conference at the disused jail 50 miles north of Gainesville.

Baker was closed in 2021 after numerous reports of excessive violence and abuse of inmates by guards.

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