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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has awarded contracts tied to a second immigration detention center, this time at Camp Blanding, a National Guard site near Jacksonville. The move would expand the state\u2019s controversial efforts to detain undocumented immigrants, amid lawsuits over conditions at the existing Everglades facility. Civil rights and environmental groups continue to push back against what they call dangerous and unlawful detention practices.<\/p>\n
By Kate Payne | The Associated Press<\/p>\n
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> \u2018 administration is apparently preparing to build a second immigration detention center, awarding at least one contract for what\u2019s labeled in state records as the \u201cNorth Detention Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n The site would add to the capacity at the state\u2019s first detention facility, built at an isolated airfield in the Florida Everglades and dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/a> Already, state officials have inked more than $245 million<\/a> in contracts for that facility, which officially opened July 1.<\/p>\n Florida plans to build a second detention center at a Florida National Guard training center called Camp Blanding, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southwest of downtown Jacksonville, though DeSantis has said the state is waiting for federal officials to ramp up deportations from the South Florida facility before building out the Camp Blanding site.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to the increased cadence,\u201d of deportations, DeSantis said last month, calling the state \u201cready, willing and able\u201d to expand its operations.<\/p>\n Civil rights advocates<\/a> and environmental groups<\/a> have filed lawsuits against the Everglades facility, where detainees allege they\u2019ve been forced to go without adequate food and medical care, and been barred from meeting with their attorneys<\/a>, held without any charges and unable to get a federal immigration court to hear their cases.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/a> has touted the facility\u2019s harshness and remoteness<\/a> as fit for the \u201cworst of the worst,\u201d while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a> has said the South Florida detention center can serve as a model<\/a> for other state-run holding facilities for immigrants.<\/p>\n Plans for the \u2018North Detention Facility\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The Florida Division of Emergency Management, the state agency that built the Everglades facility, has awarded a $39,000 contract for a portable emergency response weather station and two lightning sirens for what\u2019s been dubbed the \u201cNorth Detention Facility,\u201d according to records in the state\u2019s public contract database. The equipment will help enable \u201creal-time weather monitoring and safety alerting for staff.\u201d<\/p>\n The contract comes as the state approaches the peak of hurricane season, and as heavy rains and extreme heat have pounded parts of Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n Immigrant advocates and environmentalists have raised a host of concerns about the Everglades facility, a remote compound of heavy-duty tents and trailers that state workers and contractors assembled in a matter of days<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last week, FDEM released a heavily redacted draft emergency evacuation plan for what the document called the \u201cSouth Florida Detention Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n Entire sections related to detainee transportation, evacuation and relocation procedures were blacked out, under a Florida law that allows state agencies to make their emergency plans confidential. Despite multiple public records requests by The Associated Press, the department has not produced other evacuation plans, environmental impact studies or agency analyses for the facility.<\/p>\n Questioned by reporters on July 25, FDEM executive director Kevin Guthrie defended the emergency response agency\u2019s plans for the makeshift facility, which he says is built to withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of up to 110 mph.<\/p>\n \u201cI promise you that the hurricane guys have got the hurricane stuff covered,\u201d Guthrie said.<\/p>\n Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America<\/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n \t\t\tLike this:<\/p>\n Like Loading…<\/p>\n