SANDERSON, Fla. — The Florida Division of Emergency Management confirmed Friday that the new immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” by Gov. Ron DeSantis is officially open and receiving detainees. 

Previous Florida Detention Center Headlines

The governor announced the additional facility in August, saying the facility will have the capacity to hold more than 1,300 detainees, and would be set up with the same services as the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility. He announced at the time that the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson would be used to create the new detention center.

“Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson will now serve as a ‘Deportation Depot’ to detain and process illegal immigrants for removal, building on the success the state has had with Alligator Alcatraz,” DeSantis said last week. “We’ll enforce the law, we’ll hold the line, and we will keep delivering results.” 

DeSantis also said that state leaders are in talks with law enforcement in the Panhandle to open another facility.

“We’re actually in the process of figuring out how we can set up a ‘Panhandle Pokey’, and we are going to have that in the Panhandle. So the mission continues,” DeSantis said.

This would make the third detention center after the opening of the “Deportation Depot” near Jacksonville in Baker County.

The governor also said he is confident that the federal government will reimburse the state to cover the millions of taxpayer dollars he spent to get “Alligator Alcatraz” up and running.

“Everything we’re doing on this mission, everything we’re doing is reimbursable from FEMA,” DeSantis said.

The state also has been cleared to continue to use “Alligator Alcatraz” to hold additional detainees after an appellate court blocked an injunction issued by a federal judge.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday blocked a prior ruling by a federal judge to shut down operations at “Alligator Alcatraz.” 

The court granted the defendant’s motion to stay the order, which means that operations would be able to continue at “Alligator Alcatraz” while the case works through the courts. 

Both Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Gov. Ron DeSantis were quick to react to the ruling, saying that “victory was secured,” with the new order. 

“The 11th Circuit not only blocked Judge Williams’ order to close Alligator Alcatraz, but they blocked her from proceeding with the case until the appeal is complete,” Uthmeier wrote on X. “A win for Florida and President Trump’s agenda!”

DeSantis issued a video statement from his office shortly afterward, saying the “mission continues” at “Alligator Alcatraz.” 

United States District Judge Kathleen Williams issued an injunction in the environmental case involving “Alligator Alcatraz” in August that would have prevented the immigrant detention facility from increasing operations and inmates moving forward, as well as require the state of Florida and federal agencies to remove key aspects of the site within 60 days.