CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Wednesday he wants the detention facility, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” to be at full capacity before moving forward with the plans to turn Camp Blanding into an immigration detention site.
During a news conference in Tampa, DeSantis said the state already sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from potential vendors for the planned facility at Camp Blanding, located near Starke in Clay County. However, he said he doesn’t want to set up that facility until “Alligator Alcatraz” is filled.
“As that fills, once there’s a demand, then we would be able to go for Camp Blanding,“ DeSantis said. ”Blanding can be turned on very quickly."
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The controversial immigration site “Alligator Alcatraz,” located in the Everglades in South Florida, can hold between 3,000 and 4,000 detainees, DeSantis said.
“We also have different ways we can do Blanding. We can use existing infrastructure there, which would not give us as big of a footprint, so we would end up having, you know, some illegals. But we wouldn’t, we wouldn’t be able to house like 2,000 or 3,000 at the existing footprint, if we build out from there. With the temporary structures, that’s when you can get to 2,000 or 3,000, so we’ll make those decisions based on the facts on the ground,” DeSantis said.
In late June, DeSantis said that Camp Blanding was among the sites being considered for an ICE detention facility.
Camp Blanding 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.
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DeSantis has also said the planned detention site at Camp Blanding would be similar to the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility, which was built in eight days.
“Even though we’re getting reimbursed for it, I was like, I don’t want to be creating some structure that can hold 2,000 illegal aliens and then we end up having like, 150 there after a week,” DeSantis said.
Two weeks ago, Democratic state lawmakers, including local State Rep. AngiNixon, attempted an unannounced visit to Alligator Alcatraz but were denied entry. In response, the lawmakers filed a lawsuit against DeSantis, arguing that their oversight should not be restricted.
Days after President Donald Trump toured the facility, attorneys, advocates, detainees and their relatives spoke out about the makeshift facility, saying worms turn up in the detainees’ food, toilets don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere.
DeSantis and other Republican state officials have denied the allegations.
“This is not the Ritz-Carlton, OK? We’re not doing this just to let people have food and shelter, although they do get that, and all the minimum standards are upheld,” DeSantis said.