BAKER COUNTY, Fla. – Florida State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) expressed frustration and disappointment on Thursday after hearing the news of the planned new immigration detention center set to open soon at the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson.
On Thursday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he had authorized the opening of the new immigration detention center, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” which will be able to house up to 1,300 detainees. This would shift plans away from the previously considered site at Camp Blanding in Clay County.
DeSantis said the facility will cost $6 million to become operational, and added that it will be reimbursed by the federal government.
Nixon said the money spent on the facility could be used to help people in the state who are struggling.
“I’m disgusted and I’m tired and we should be frustrated about it,” Nixon said.
Earlier this summer, Nixon and other lawmakers toured the controversial immigration facility in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” after she and four other democratic lawmakers tried to view it unannounced and were denied entry.
Nixon called that tour “sanitized,” but said she heard detainees saying “muy mal,” which translates to very bad.
“This isn’t doing anything for us. This isn’t helping us. This isn’t making our country great again. This isn’t making Florida great again,” Nixon said.
News4JAX went to Baker County to get local reaction to the governor’s announcement. Many did not want to speak on camera, including one man who said he was concerned about the facility because certain immigrants who have lived in the area for decades are “being stripped away from their children, their grandchildren.”
One man named Chris, who lives in Lake City, said he’s in favor of the facility.
“It comes to us having to take care of our own,” he said. “And if you’re going to come over here and you’re going to exploit us, then there’s no reason for you to be here, really. I mean, I’m not prejudiced or anything like that. I mean, you do what you do, you got to live how you got to live.”
The Baker Correctional Institution was among three North Florida prisons that were temporarily closed in 2021 amid staffing shortages and a drop in inmate population during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been closed ever since.
This facility is just miles away from the Baker County Detention Center, where a wing houses immigrants who live in the country illegally. It’s also just a 15-minute drive from the Lake City Airport, which is expected to be used to deport detainees.
In 2022, News4JAX obtained an inspection report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the federal wing of the detention center, which is run by the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
In that report, the center was described as a “living hell.”
The announcement of the opening of the new immigration center also comes amid two federal lawsuits filed on behalf of two former detainees who were previously held at the Baker County Detention Center.
News4JAX reached out to ICE, asking for a tour of the newly announced facility or renderings of what it’ll look like.
“Thank you for contacting ICE Media. We have routed your query to the appropriate public affairs officer for handling,” ICE responded.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said it could take about two weeks for the facility to become operational.
