All detainees moved from Alligator Alcatraz to other Florida facilities: DHS

All detainees are in “Crocodile Alcatraz”, an immigration detention center Florida EvergladesHe was transferred to other facilities due to concerns about hurricane season, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The agency said all detainees at the facility were transferred, but did not specify how many were taken. Some of these detainees will be transferred to the “Deportation Depot” in Sanderson, Florida, another ICE facility set up in the northern part of the state.

DHS also did not say whether the immigrants would stay in the new facilities long-term or whether the transfers would be temporary.

“As we enter hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida removed illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility. For the safety of illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News.

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Hurricane season lasts six months, from June to November. “Alligator Alcatraz” opened on July 3, 2025, just a month after last year’s hurricane season began, which ended without any storms touching down on the Sunshine State.

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

The controversial state-run detention center has been hailed by President Donald Trump but criticized by lawyers and human rights groups for its harsh conditions and mistreatment of detainees.

Detainees at the facility reported that they had no access to lawyers and that physical conditions were poor, including worms in the food, toilets that did not flush, fecal waste everywhere, and floors infested with insects.

The controversial state-run detention center has been criticized by lawyers and human rights groups for its harsh conditions and mistreatment of detainees. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“Transferring people from this cruel facility is an important step, but it does not undo the harm that has already been done,” Amy Godshall, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing the state and federal government over claims that detainees lack access to legal representation, said in a statement. he said. “The state and federal government must permanently close this facility and commit to never detaining people there again.”

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

Trump toured the facility just two days before it opened last summer. The facility has processed and deported more than 20,000 detainees since its opening.

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

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

Immigration advocates and lawyers said the hurricane season was just an excuse and not the real reason detainees were being transferred. They said that they have observed an increase in the number of detainees being transferred to other facilities in recent weeks, and that contact with dozens of detainees has been lost during these transfers.

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“It’s a ridiculous excuse because they opened last year in the middle of the worst part of the hurricane season,” said Arianne Betancourt, a community advocate at the nonprofit The Workers Circle who spent months trying to connect detainees with lawyers.

“They’re all gone,” Blankenship added. “These are moved into the system and disappear, and family or counselors are often unreachable for about a week.”

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.