"Alligator Alcatraz": Florida's state-run detention site and the FEMA money behind it (2025-2026) Case Florida opened a state-run immigration detention site in the Everglades in July 2025, nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz," with no ICE contract, building it under a state emergency order that let it skip competitive bidding. Reporting counts more than $900 million in state vendor contracts tied to the site, against a $608.4 million FEMA grant that covers operations only; DHS had paid Florida just under $85 million of it as of September 2026. The site closed June 25, 2026, and Florida's emergency agency is asking the Legislature for more money to pay outstanding bills. Who paid: the funding structure In July 2025 Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Everglades site would be funded largely by FEMA's Shelter and Services Program, not FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund. FactCheck.org reported that Florida fronted the initial $450 million for the first year (per WINK News) and would seek reimbursement through that program. Congress created the Shelter and Services Program in 2023 under the Biden administration to ease overcrowding in short-term CBP holding facilities and support shelter for noncitizens released from DHS custody awaiting court proceedings; Noem said its purpose had shifted to detaining people awaiting deportation. FEMA awarded Florida $608.4 million on Sept. 30, 2025 under a detention support grant for the state-run Florida Soft-Sided Facility. GAO says the facility opened with no ICE contract or agreement, and that the grant program authorizes a bed rate of $249 per day, about 171% above ICE's fiscal 2026 median of $92 (the median at eight Bureau of Prisons facilities ICE uses was $182). PolitiFact reports the state initially asked FEMA for nearly $1.5 billion and that the approved $608 million could be used only for operational costs, not construction or modification. Where the money went: contracts Within weeks of announcing the site on June 19, 2025, Gov. DeSantis's office signed at least two dozen contracts worth more than $245 million, according to a state contract database reviewed by the AP. They were awarded under a 2023 immigration emergency order that lets the state suspend rules, including competitive-bidding requirements. The state later removed contract documents from its website, saying they contained proprietary information. The largest early contracts, per the AP: $78.5 million to Critical Response Strategies, a Jacksonville consulting firm, to staff the site (including a warden at $260,000 and corrections officers); $25.6 million to Longview Solutions Group for site preparation, roads and fencing; $22 million to Doodie Calls for portable toilets and shower trailers; $21.1 million to Gothams for IT services, access badges and detainee wristbands; and $19.7 million each to SLSCO and Garner Environmental Services for build-out and maintenance. A Florida Phoenix review of contracts on the state's accountability website (June 2026) found Florida signed immigration contracts with 38 vendors across Alligator Alcatraz, the Deportation Depot center in Baker County and the earlier Operation Vigilant Sentry, and still owed 27 of them at least $603 million. It put the state emergency agency's total obligations between $991 million (Miami Herald) and $1.01 billion, with about 40% paid. These figures are not Alligator Alcatraz alone. Per the same review, Doodie Calls, a portable-toilet and sanitation company, was contracted for at least $219 million in immigration work, had been paid $96 million and was owed another $122 million. Next were disaster-response company IRG Global at about $112 million, a detention operator listed as GEO-CDR Baker at about $100 million, and security firm GardaWorld at $78 million. The review did not break these out by facility. The Phoenix says those totals exclude one-time costs such as supplies, travel and food (roughly $25 million through February) and about $20 million in emergency-fund contracts that do not name immigration activities. WPTV reported on Sept. 7, 2026 that its review of state financial records found more than $900 million in vendor contracts related to Alligator Alcatraz, and that estimates, including one from the state emergency agency, put the facility's total cost above $1 billion. A Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times review found that of at least nine state contractors on the site, three had given money to DeSantis or the Republican Party of Florida for statewide campaigns; the owners of CDR Maguire and its affiliate CDR Health were the biggest donors. The sources here do not show that donations influenced any award. Records released by the state emergency agency after a public records lawsuit show Doodie Calls' role went well beyond toilets: a 37-page vendor assignment manual lists waste management, wastewater operations and helping build a staff village. On Sept. 29, 2025 the agency projected paying the company $480 million for Alligator Alcatraz and $165 million for the Deportation Depot through July 30, 2027, the highest projection for any of its immigration contractors. The agency said it later cut costs through vendor negotiations but did not give updated figures or say which vendors were cut. Florida's emergency agency communications director responded to the Phoenix's questions about the projections by calling continued reporting on the original estimates misleading and, in a text message, 'opposition journalism.' Doodie Calls did not respond to requests for comment on what its contract is now worth. Cost projections and reimbursement A Florida Phoenix review of nearly 3,000 pages of state records found the emergency agency changed its cost projections at least five times between June and November 2025. In September 2025 it projected more than $1.7 billion through July 2027 for Alligator Alcatraz and the Deportation Depot, about $1.1 billion of it to be paid by the state ($807 million for Alligator Alcatraz, $294 million for the Depot). In November it told FEMA that Alligator Alcatraz had cost $390.2 million from June to October and revised its projection for the site alone to about $1.065 billion by June 30, 2026. PolitiFact reported in May 2026 that Florida officials put the facility's total price tag at $1.1 billion by June, that the state had spent at least $460 million on Alligator Alcatraz and the Deportation Depot together, and that reports put spending above $1 million per day. The first federal reimbursement, $58 million, came on May 15, 2026. Per PolitiFact, a review hold was lifted March 10 and the state had to wait until a partial federal shutdown ended April 30 to request the money. As of June 25, Spectrum News reported only $58 million of the $608 million had been paid, and DeSantis said he expected the full amount. WPTV reported on Sept. 7, 2026 that, according to USAspending.gov, DHS had paid Florida's emergency agency just under $85 million of the $608 million grant. The same day WPTV reported that the emergency agency was asking the Legislature's Joint Legislative Budget Commission for $250 million to 'process outstanding obligations,' about $188 million of it for what the request calls an 'illegal migration appropriation' and $62 million for hurricane and wildfire invoices. The grant is capped at $608.4 million and excludes construction, while WPTV counts more than $900 million in vendor contracts tied to the site. No source reviewed states the final amount Florida will not recover. Litigation and closure (2025-2026) On April 21, 2026 the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 for the Trump administration that there was not enough federal control over construction to trigger a federal environmental review, lifting a lower court's order requiring officials to dismantle the facility in response to a suit by environmental groups. Judge Nancy Abudu dissented, calling the decision 'just plain wrong.' DeSantis said May 11, 2026 that federal officials had not told him to shut the site and that he would close it if it was no longer needed. Per reports cited by PolitiFact, officials notified operating companies on May 12 that the facility would be shut down and deconstructed, with about 1,400 remaining detainees to be moved in June. On June 25, 2026 DeSantis announced the facility had closed with no detainees, after saying as recently as June 16 that it was still operating. Per the Washington Examiner, he cited weather concerns tied to hurricane season. Conditions: DHS inspector general report (Sept. 2026) A 34-page DHS Office of Inspector General report, released Sept. 14, 2026 after an unannounced January visit, found staff could not clearly say which detention standards they used, and that nearly 80 detainees were held in small metal enclosures of about 18 square feet for minutes up to nearly two hours. The OIG called the practice 'unlike any OIG team has observed in ICE facilities.' The OIG also found the site failed other standards, including environmental health and safety, medical care, food service and personal hygiene, and that housing units held 22 to 31 people each, above what the 75-square-feet-per-detainee standard would allow. The report says DHS told the OIG that the state, not DHS, controlled daily operations, while noting that facilities housing ICE detainees must meet ICE detention standards. Perspectives Official position — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis DeSantis says the federal government is reimbursing the state, that the arrangement was designed for DHS to oversee federal immigration enforcement including detention, and that he expects the full $608 million. He says the facility fulfilled its purpose and closed because it was meant to be temporary, citing hurricane-season concerns, and that it improved public safety by holding criminal migrants. Official position — DHS (spokesperson and Secretary Noem) Noem said in July 2025 that the site would be funded largely through FEMA's Shelter and Services Program, repurposed from the Biden-era use to detain people awaiting deportation. In September 2026 a DHS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner the facility was consistent with the federal detention standards used by previous administrations, including Biden's and Obama's. Expert view — DHS Office of Inspector General and GAO GAO flagged the grant's $249 daily bed rate as far above ICE's own median costs. The DHS inspector general found the site failed to meet a range of detention standards and used enclosures it called 'highly unconventional' and not aligned with humane treatment. Neither finds that anyone acted in bad faith; they document rates, conditions and gaps in standards. Research notes Published Oct. 11, 2026. The entry "ICE detention funding surge and private contractor revenue (2025-2026)" has one point on the FEMA grant; this entry covers the site itself. Caution on figures: several Florida Phoenix numbers combine Alligator Alcatraz with the Deportation Depot center in Baker County and the earlier Operation Vigilant Sentry, so they are not Alligator Alcatraz alone. Pending: (a) a Florida public records request to the Florida Division of Emergency Management (filed Oct. 11, 2026) for contracts, invoices, payment ledgers, procurement justifications, cost projections, FEMA grant records, support for the $250 million legislative request, and closure and equipment-disposal records; (b) a federal FOIA request to FEMA (filed Oct. 11, 2026) for the grant application, award terms, environmental-review hold, reimbursement requests and payments, FEMA-FDEM communications, and closeout records. No responses yet; this entry will be updated if records arrive. Open leads: (1) the DHS OIG report itself, to replace syndicated news copies; (2) USAspending record for payments after the roughly $85 million reported in September (WPTV's FOIA request to FEMA, filed in May, had not been answered as of its latest report); (3) the contracts themselves in the Florida Accountability Contract Tracking System, since contract documents were pulled from the state site in July 2025; (4) how the Legislature's Joint Legislative Budget Commission handled the $250 million request; (5) FDEM's claim that its vendors were pre-vetted and competitively bid in earlier years (Guthrie, reported by WFLX, Aug. 2025), which this entry does not yet cite; (6) donor links for the vendors named (the Herald/Times report covers only three of at least nine contractors); (7) detainee deaths, access-to-counsel litigation and wetlands claims still pending as of August 2026. Note DeSantis says the facility met its purpose and closed because it was temporary, and expects full federal reimbursement; DHS says it was consistent with past federal detention standards, while the DHS inspector general found it failed several. Sources [1] GAO-26-108663, Immigration Detention: Urgent Planning Needed to Avoid Further Waste of Taxpayer Dollars (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108663) · 2026-09-24 [2] FactCheck.org: A Dedicated FEMA Fund Will Pay for 'Alligator Alcatraz' (https://www.factcheck.org/2025/07/a-dedicated-fema-fund-will-pay-for-alligator-alcatraz/) · 2025-07-02 [3] PolitiFact: Florida's Alligator Alcatraz may close. Trump, DeSantis' statements about center clash with facts (https://politifact.com/article/2026/may/18/alligator-alcatraz-florida-close-immigration-cost/) · 2026-05-18 [4] Spectrum News: DeSantis announces end of operations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' (https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2026/06/25/desantis-announces-end-of-operations-at--alligator-alcatraz-) · 2026-06-25 [5] E&E News (POLITICO): Appeals court overturns injunction that aimed to shut 'Alligator Alcatraz' (https://www.eenews.net/articles/appeals-court-overturns-injunction-that-aimed-to-shut-alligator-alcatraz/) · 2026-04-21 [6] The Hill (via Yahoo News): Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' confined migrants in 'small metal enclosures': DHS internal watchdog (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/florida-alligator-alcatraz-confined-migrants-182420489.html) · 2026-09-14 [7] Washington Examiner: 'Alligator Alcatraz' suddenly shuttered following visit from federal auditors (https://washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/4726594/alligator-alcatraz-shuttered-following-dhs-auditor-report) · 2026-09-14 [8] Yahoo News (syndicated copy): Appeals court lifts order requiring 'Alligator Alcatraz' dismantling (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-lifts-order-requiring-211522977.html) · 2026-04-21 [9] Yahoo News (syndicated copy): 'Alligator Alcatraz' put detainees in metal cages labeled 'calming areas,' watchdog finds (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/alligator-alcatraz-put-detainees-metal-152140249.html) · 2026-09-14 [10] Florida Phoenix (via Islander News): Florida owes $603 million on Alligator Alcatraz contracts (https://www.islandernews.com/news/florida/florida-owes-603-million-on-alligator-alcatraz-contracts/article_8f3c1018-d462-4204-abc9-31a337eab9a0.html) · 2026-06-18 [11] WPTV Investigates: Florida Division of Emergency Management seeks $250M for Alligator Alcatraz, storm costs (https://www.wptv.com/wptv-investigates/florida-division-of-emergency-management-seeks-250m-for-alligator-alcatraz-storm-costs) · 2026-09-07 [12] Associated Press (via WLRN): Florida signs $245 million in contracts for 'Alligator Alcatraz' (https://www.wlrn.org/immigration/2025-07-22/florida-signs-245-million-in-contracts-for-alligator-alcatraz-heres-a-look-by-the-numbers) · 2025-07-22 [13] Florida Phoenix: Timeline of confusion: A look at FL's cost projections for 'Alligator Alcatraz,' 'Deportation Depot' (https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/02/timeline-of-confusion-a-look-at-fls-cost-projections-for-alligator-alcatraz-deportation-depot/) · 2026-03-02 [14] Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times (via Yahoo News): Contractors building Alligator Alcatraz have donated money to Florida GOP, DeSantis (https://www.yahoo.com/news/contractors-building-alligator-alcatraz-donated-011117707.html) · 2025-07 [15] Florida Phoenix (via States Newsroom): Florida originally planned $645 million for Doodie Calls; DEM says numbers changed (https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/florida-originally-planned-645-million-doodie-calls-dem-says-numbers-changed) · 2026-03-03 Connections Same context — ICE detention funding surge and private contractor revenue (2025-2026) That entry covers federal detention funding and contractor revenue and carries one point on the FEMA grant; this entry covers the Everglades site itself, its cost, reimbursement, litigation, closure and conditions.