Florida to Receive Federal Reimbursement for Alligator Alcatraz

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that $608 million was approved for reimbursement.

The entrance to the state-managed immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades in Ochopee, Fla., on Aug. 3, 2025. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The federal government approved more than $600 million in reimbursement to Florida last week for the cost of building and operating the illegal immigration and deportation center known as Alligator Alcatraz.

The news was confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, but although the funds have been approved, they have not yet been paid out.

Florida’s Division of Emergency Management built the center over the summer. Its plans for the facility were approved by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and there was an understanding that reimbursement would come through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis previously said that the reimbursement will be treated the same as any other reimbursement handled by FEMA.

The center was originally expected to cost about $450 million per year for construction and operations. The funds awarded to the Sunshine State last week came out to $608 million.

FEMA announced the launch of a new program called the Detention Support Grant Program in late July that was intended to provide more than $608 million in funding for states specifically to use toward state-run holding facilities.

According to FEMA, this program would provide grants to offset the cost of holding illegal immigrants in those facilities until Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes them into custody.

Details of the program were found in a FEMA document posted on the Sam.gov federal government website. However, that webpage is no longer available.

“Recipients and subrecipients may use grant funds for the costs of sheltering aliens in a detained environment,” the document stated.

The application deadline for the program was Aug. 8.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to The Epoch Times that the $608 million reimbursement will be delivered to Florida in the form of this grant.

Alligator Alcatraz was only the first temporary detention and deportation center announced by DeSantis. A second facility called “Deportation Depot” was announced on Aug. 14.

Located at Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, Florida, the facility is less than an hour’s drive away from Jacksonville, Florida, and less than 15 minutes away from Lake City Gateway Airport. Alligator Alcatraz, meanwhile, hosted its own runway in the middle of the Everglades to optimize deportation efforts.

“We want to process, stage, and then return illegal aliens to their home country,” the governor said in August. “That is the name of the game, and that’s what we do in Florida. We know that this is an important national priority, not only of President [Donald] Trump, but of the American people.”

Aldgra Fredly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article was updated to include a response from the Department of Homeland Security.