TALLAHASSEE — Among at least 10 state contractors involved in the creation of Alligator Alcatraz, the facility in the middle of the Everglades the state has built for immigrant detainees, three have given money to Gov. Ron DeSantis or the Republican Party of Florida for statewide campaigns.
One contractor stands out: CDR Maguire and its affiliated company, CDR Health. The companies and their married chief executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, have given a total of $1.9 million to the two state political action committees supporting DeSantis’ bids for governor and to the Republican Party of Florida, according to Florida campaign finance records.
Duart and Vidal-Duart are close allies of DeSantis and have come up repeatedly in recent reporting by the Times/Herald. Duart, a DeSantis-appointed FIU trustee, was mentioned in an article relating to the Governor’s Inn, an exclusive hotel developed by a different donor that is closed to the public. Reporters saw him going in and out of the Inn on May 6.
Vidal-Duart serves on the board of the embattled Hope Florida Foundation charity that is spearheaded by state first lady Casey DeSantis and that is central to a criminal investigation by the State Attorney’s Office in Leon County over a $10 million transfer that came from a Medicaid settlement last year.
CDR Maguire is a national emergency management company based in Miami. It has seven affiliated companies, according to its website, that span from health care to financial services to bridge construction, all of which could be useful in developing temporary shelters such as the migrant detention center being built in the Everglades.
CDR Health is among them. According to the company’s website, employees at CDR Health’s Miami office have treated more than 140,000 refugees, including Cuban and Haitian asylum applicants.
Neither Duart nor Vidal-Duart returned a call from the Times/Herald on Wednesday.
The detention camp is intended to house up to 3,000 immigrants before they are deported. It opened on Tuesday with a red-carpet-like rollout for political celebrities, including President Donald Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DeSantis.
The other state contractors include Deployed Resources LLC, the port-a-potty company Doodie Calls, GardaWorld, Garner Environmental Services, Gothams LLC, Granny’s Alliance, Longview International Technological Solutions and SLS-WSP JV.
GardaWorld Cash, one of several companies affiliated with GardaWorld — one of the world’s largest security services companies, according to its website — gave $5,000 to DeSantis’ Empower Parents political action committee in 2018. The political organization, which went by Friends of Ron DeSantis at the time, was created to support DeSantis’ first bid for governor.
GardaWorld has also been eyed for Florida’s immigration agenda before — it was one of the vendors picked by the state to fly migrants out of Florida. A representative from GardaWorld did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening.
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Gothams LLC is a “disaster logistics response” company, according to its website. Founder Matt Michelsen gave $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida in 2021 and $25,000 to DeSantis’ Empower Parents political action committee in 2022.
A representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening. Gothams, which is based in Texas, has made millions constructing a holding facility in the Lone Star state, according to the nonprofit news organization Texas Observer.
Billions awarded before
While CDR Maguire’s owners are the biggest donors to DeSantis and the state Republican Party, their two companies haven’t received the most money in state contracts compared to one of the other Alligator Alcatraz vendors. That prize goes to Texas-based Garner Environmental Services.
The DeSantis administration is being sued by environmental groups given the remote construction site is in the ecologically unique Everglades.
Garner has been awarded up to $1.6 billion for past state work, according to the Florida contracting system. Garner has worked with Florida for hurricane preparation and recovery.
A representative from the company could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening.
CDR Maguire and CDR Health have been awarded up to a $1 billion combined for past state contracting work. Gothams LLC has been awarded up to $310.5 million. GardaWorld has been awarded up to nearly $8 million.
All the other state contractors confirmed by the Times/Herald have also received past contracting work, according to the state’s contracting website.
Representatives from the companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening.
Deployed Resources also has a $3.8 billion contract with the federal government to operate a migrant detention camp in Texas, according to the Texas Tribune, and has focused on tent complexes.
Miami Herald staff writers Siena Duncan and Churchill Ndonwie contributed to this story.