Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said the Department of Homeland Security has begun removing illegal immigrants from Alligator Alcatraz.
“I’m pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun,” DeSantis said, as per Fox News. “The cadence is increasing. We’ve already had a number of flights, in the last few days, we’ve had hundreds of illegals [that] have been removed from here.”
He explained that the migrant removals provide “an ability to enhance the mission, to increase the number and frequency of deportations,” calling the effort “remarkable.”
“The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens, and that is the goal,” the governor added. “And one of the reasons why this was a sensible spot is because you have this runway that’s right here. You don’t have to drive them an hour to an airport. You go a couple thousand feet and they can be on a plane and out of here.”
In a social media statement, DeSantis said the deportation flights are a “mandate set upon us by the American people.”
“Florida’s state and local agencies are serving as force multipliers for federal efforts to arrest and deport illegal aliens,” he said. We’re charging full speed ahead to deliver on immigration enforcement.”
DHS approved the migrant detention facility in the middle of the Everglades in June.
Upon proposing the facility, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility is an “abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades” that “presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.”
