Is ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention centre funded by Florida hurricane money?

Florida and federal officials announced the state will build a new immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades – an area of wetlands in the south of the state. Because the facility will be partly funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), some Floridians are worried it will affect hurricane relief funds.

Homeland Security’s Secretary Kristi Noem “is using FEMA funds to build her Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp in Florida. At the beginning of hurricane season”, reads a June 23 X post, “when we can’t pay our bills or fund meals for kids and the elderly.”The “Alligator Alcatraz” facility gets its nickname from Alcatraz, the former maximum-security prison island in San Francisco Bay known for its isolation, security and minimal inmate privileges. The “Alligator” part is because the 39-square-mile facility will be located remotely in the Everglades, a swampy region surrounded by alligators and pythons, where “there’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide”, according to a June 19 video posted by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. The facility would be six miles north of Everglades National Park.Governor Ron DeSantis’s office told PolitiFact the facility will use temporary buildings and shelters similar to those used during natural disasters. The location will be the abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, which has an existing airstrip. The state will use the site under the governor’s emergency powers.The Department of Homeland Security posted on June 23 on X that the facility is among its efforts to “deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations. Alligator Alcatraz will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”

The government will allocate some FEMA funds to the facility, but it will not use disaster relief funds.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management will build the facility for people arrested by Florida law enforcement for immigration law offences. A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) programme delegates to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specific immigration functions. Immigrants arrested in other states could also be transferred to the facility under Florida’s custody.

How FEMA will fund ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
A Noem spokesperson told PolitiFact on June 24 that the new Florida immigration detention facility will largely be funded by FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program. Information about that programme is no longer available on FEMA’s website, but a DHS spokesperson told us that FEMA has roughly $625m in that programme’s funds that can be allocated to build the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.

The DHS spokesperson also said that Florida will initially pay for the facility, and then will submit a reimbursement request to FEMA and DHS.

DHS said the facility’s total cost will be approximately $450m for one year. It is expected to open 30 to 60 days after construction, which started on June 23, according to The New York Times. It will open with 500 to 1,000 beds and is expected to have 5,000 beds by early July.

Congress approved FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program in fiscal year 2023 to give money to state and local governments and nonprofit organisations that provide migrants with temporary shelter, food and transportation. The programme uses money Congress gave Customs and Border Protection, and is administered by FEMA. Before then, including during the Trump administration, migrants received help through another FEMA programme, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which is for people facing homelessness and hunger.

FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is primarily used after natural disasters, is funded separately by Congress.