Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced that the state is planning to open a second immigration detention facility.
The new facility, located at the Baker Correctional Institution and dubbed “Deportation Depot” by the governor, will hold 1,300 detention beds, although officials believe the number could increase to nearly 2,000.
“We’re taking yet another step in supporting the important mission that President Trump was elected to implement, securing the border, enforcing immigration laws and removing illegal aliens who are in our society now and sending them back to their home country,” DeSantis told reporters.
“We have done more on this than any other state by a country mile,” he added. ”We’re the only state in the country that requires all state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in ICE operations. We have that as a requirement of our state law.”
Florida’s detention center, Alligator Alcatraz, has been the subject of recent controversy just weeks after opening. The Department of Homeland Security has defended the facility, issuing a statement condemning the mainstream media’s attacks on the site.
“Nearly every single day, my office responds to media questions on FALSE allegations about Alligator Alcatraz. The media is clearly desperate for these allegations of inhumane conditions at this facility to be true,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated. “No feces are overflowing from toilets. Just like no one has died. Incinerators are not being used for nefarious purposes. These types of smears are directly contributing to our ICE officers facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them. Here are the facts: Alligator Alcatraz does meet federal detention standards. All detainee facilities are clean. Any allegations of inhumane conditions are FALSE. When will the media stop peddling hoaxes about illegal alien detention centers and start focusing on American victims of illegal alien crime?”
