CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday that the ICE detention site planned at Camp Blanding in Clay County will be able to house 2,000 detainees.
Construction is expected to start next week.
After greeting President Donald Trump Tuesday morning at the new immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, DeSantis said Camp Blanding’s detention facility will help the state and federal efforts in cracking down on illegal immigration.
“Why would you want to come through ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ if you could just go home on your own? I think a lot of people are going to make that decision. So you’re going to have a lot of deportations that are going to be done by the administration, but I think you’re going to have a lot of voluntary, as well. So this is a force multiplier for the president’s efforts,” DeSantis said on Tuesday.
Kevin Guthrie, Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, told reporters his agency is closing on vendor approvals for the Camp Blanding immigration detention center.
“I’d say after our wonderful Independence Day, we will be starting construction on that facility,” Guthrie said.
RELATED | Local attorney weighs in on potential use of Camp Blanding as immigration detention facility
Camp Blanding, located near Starke, serves as the Florida National Guard training headquarters, according to DeSantis. The training center provides ranges, education facilities, simulation platforms, maintenance, and other services to Florida’s National Guard and numerous federal, state, and local customers spanning the Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) spectrum.
While construction has not begun at Camp Blanding, the idea has generated local interest and concern.
“There seems to be some mixed reaction from people living in Clay County,” said government law attorney Chris Hand in an interview on This Week in Jacksonville. “Some who said they were perfectly fine with it, others who said they had concerns.”
Because the National Guard falls under executive control, the state may be able to move forward without legislative approval, unless new funding is required. The state has said FEMA will reimburse the Everglades facility, but has not yet commented on possible reimbursement for additional sites.
The “Alligator Alcatraz” facility, designed to hold up to 5,000 detainees, was created in roughly one week under the direction of state Attorney General James Uthmeier.
“Clearly, from a security perspective, if someone escapes, you know, there’s a lot of alligators,” DeSantis said last week. “No one’s going anywhere.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are generally held for reasons like entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa. They are either waiting for ICE to put them on the next flight or bus ride home, or they’re fighting their removal in immigration court.
If an immigrant is accused of or has committed a violent crime, he or she is tried and held in state or federal criminal jurisdiction, separate from the immigration system. In those cases, they may be transferred to ICE for deportation after completing their criminal sentences.