\u201cNot cool!\u201d one local official told the state agency director spearheading the construction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Work progressed on a new migrant detention facility dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n Work progressed on a new migrant detention facility dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The 100-plus emails dated June 21 to July 1, obtained through a public records request, underscore the breakneck speed<\/a> at which the governor\u2019s team built the facility and the extent to which local officials were blindsided by the plans for the compound of makeshift tents and trailers in Collier County, a wealthy, majority-Republican corner of the state that\u2019s home to white-sand beaches and the western stretch of the Everglades.<\/p>\n The executive order, originally signed by the Republican governor in 2023 and extended since then, accelerated the project, allowing the state to seize county-owned land and evade rules in what critics have called an abuse of power<\/a>. The order granted the state sweeping authority to suspend \u201cany statute, rule or order\u201d seen as slowing the response to the immigration \u201cemergency.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, the airstrip is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami. It is located within Collier County but is owned and managed by neighboring Miami-Dade County. The AP asked for similar records from Miami-Dade County, where officials said they are still processing the request.<\/p>\n To DeSantis and other state officials, building the facility in the remote Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison<\/a> were meant as deterrents. It\u2019s another sign of how President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and his allies are relying on scare tactics<\/a> to pressure people who are in the country illegally to leave.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Workers install a sign reading \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d at the entrance to a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Thursday, July 3, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n Workers install a sign reading \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d at the entrance to a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Thursday, July 3, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Detention center in the Everglades? \u2018Never heard of that\u2019<\/p>\n Collier County Commissioner Rick LoCastro apparently first heard about the proposal after a concerned resident in another county sent him an email on June 21.<\/p>\n \u201cA citizen is asking about a proposed \u2018detention center\u2019 in the Everglades?\u201d LoCastro wrote to County Manager Amy Patterson and other staff. \u201cNever heard of that \u2026 Am I missing something?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI am unaware of any land use petitions that are proposing a detention center in the Everglades. I\u2019ll check with my intake team, but I don\u2019t believe any such proposal has been received by Zoning,\u201d replied the county\u2019s planning and zoning director, Michael Bosi.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Environmental groups<\/a> have since filed a federal lawsuit<\/a>, arguing that the state illegally bypassed federal and state laws and county zoning rules in building the facility. The complaint alleges that the detention center went up \u201cwithout legislative authority, environmental review or compliance with local land use requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, LoCastro was included on a June 21 email from state officials announcing their intention to buy the airfield. LoCastro sits on the county\u2019s governing board but does not lead it, and his district does not include the airstrip. He forwarded the message to the county attorney, saying \u201cNot sure why they would send this to me?\u201d<\/p>\n In the email, Kevin Guthrie, the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which built the detention center, said the state intended to \u201cwork collaboratively\u201d with the counties. The message referenced the executive order on illegal immigration, but it did not specify how the state wanted to use the site, other than for \u201cfuture emergency response, aviation logistics, and staging operations.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day, Collier County\u2019s emergency management director, Dan Summers, wrote up a briefing for the county manager and other local officials, including some notes about the \u201crumor\u201d he had heard about plans for an immigration detention facility at the airfield.<\/p>\n Summers knew the place well, he said, after doing a detailed site survey a few years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThe infrastructure is \u2014 well, nothing much but a few equipment barns and a mobile home office \u2026 (wet and mosquito-infested),\u201d Summers wrote.<\/p>\n FDEM told Summers that while the agency had surveyed the airstrip, \u201cNO mobilization or action plans are being executed at this time\u201d and all activity was \u201cinvestigatory,\u201d Summers wrote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Environmental advocates and protesters at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Tamiami Trail E, Ochopee, Fla., on Saturday, June 28, 2025, object to the \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d being built at the facility. (Mike Stocker \/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)<\/p>\n Environmental advocates and protesters at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Tamiami Trail E, Ochopee, Fla., on Saturday, June 28, 2025, object to the \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d being built at the facility. (Mike Stocker \/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Emergency director said lack of information was \u2018not cool\u2019<\/p>\n By June 23, Summers was racing to prepare a presentation for a meeting of the Board of County Commissioners the next day. He shot off an email to FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie seeking confirmation of basic facts about the airfield and the plans for the detention facility, which Summers understood to be \u201cconceptual\u201d and in \u201cdiscussion or investigatory stages only.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs it in the plans or is there an actual operation set to open?\u201d Summers asked. \u201cRumor is operational today\u2026 ???\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, the agency was already \u201con site with our vendors coordinating the construction of the site,\u201d FDEM bureau chief Ian Guidicelli responded.<\/p>\n \u201cNot cool! That\u2019s not what was relayed to me last week or over the weekend,\u201d Summers responded, adding that he would have \u201cegg on my face\u201d with the Collier County Sheriff\u2019s Office and Board of County Commissioners. \u201cIt\u2019s a Collier County site. I am on your team, how about the courtesy of some coordination?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the evening of June 23, FDEM officially notified Miami-Dade County it was seizing the county-owned land to build the detention center, under emergency powers granted by the executive order.<\/p>\n Plans for the facility sparked concerns among first responders in Collier County, who questioned which agency would be responsible if an emergency should strike the site.<\/p>\n Discussions on the issue grew tense at times. Local Fire Chief Chris Wolfe wrote to the county\u2019s chief of emergency medical services and other officials on June 25: \u201cI am not attempting to argue with you, more simply seeking how we are going to prepare for this that is clearly within the jurisdiction of Collier County.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Workers sit alongside trailers as work progresses on a new migrant detention center dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n Workers sit alongside trailers as work progresses on a new migrant detention center dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u2018Not our circus, not our monkeys\u2019<\/p>\n Summers, the emergency management director, repeatedly reached out to FDEM for guidance, trying to \u201celiminate some of the confusion\u201d around the site.<\/p>\n As he and other county officials waited for details from Tallahassee, they turned to local news outlets for information, sharing links to stories among themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cKeep them coming,\u201d Summers wrote to county Communications Director John Mullins in response to one news article, \u201csince its crickets from Tally at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoping to manage any blowback to the county\u2019s tourism industry, local officials kept close tabs on media coverage of the facility, watching as the news spread rapidly from local newspapers in southwest Florida to national outlets such as The Washington Post and The New York Times and international news sites as far away as Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland.<\/p>\n As questions from reporters and complaints from concerned residents streamed in, local officials lined up legal documentation to show the airfield was not their responsibility.<\/p>\n In an email chain labeled, \u201cNot our circus, not our monkeys…,\u201d County Attorney Jeffrey Klatzkow wrote to the county manager, \u201cMy view is we have no interest in this airport parcel, which was acquired by eminent domain by Dade County in 1968.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, construction at the site plowed ahead, with trucks arriving around the clock carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials. Among the companies that snagged multimillion dollar contracts for the work were those whose owners donated generously to political committees supporting DeSantis and other Republicans.<\/p>\n On July 1, just 10 days after Collier County first got wind of the plans, the state officially opened the facility, welcoming DeSantis, Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other state and federal officials for a tour.<\/p>\n A county emergency management staffer fired off an email to Summers, asking to be included on any site visit to the facility. <\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Summers replied. \u201cAfter the President\u2019s visit and some of the chaos on-site settles-in, we will get you all down there\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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