Florida Moves All Detainees Out of Everglades Facility Ahead of Hurricane Season

All detainees at the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades have been transferred to other facilities, the Department of Homeland Security said, citing concerns about the hurricane season.

The agency said every detainee had been moved but did not give a number. Some will go to the Deportation Depot, another ICE facility in Sanderson, Florida. DHS did not say whether the transfers are permanent.

"As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility. For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News.

Hurricane season runs from June through November. The facility opened on July 3, 2025. The National Hurricane Center said the first tropical storm of the current season had formed off the Texas coast shortly after the transfer announcement.

The center has drawn praise from President Donald Trump and criticism from lawyers and human rights groups over conditions and treatment of detainees. Detainees reported a lack of access to lawyers, worms in food, toilets that did not flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, and insects.

"Transferring people out of this cruel facility is an important step, but it does not erase the harm that has already been done," said Amy Godshall, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who filed a lawsuit over detainees' access to legal representation. "The state and federal government must permanently close this facility and commit to never detaining people there again."

The facility sits in alligator-filled swamps in the Everglades. It was built by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to support Trump's mass detention and deportation plans. Trump toured the site two days before it opened. The center has processed and deported more than 20,000 detainees since opening. DeSantis said last month that the facility was always meant to be temporary.

Immigration advocates said the hurricane season was an excuse. They reported an increase in transfers over the past few weeks and said they lost contact with dozens of detainees. "They are all gone," said one advocate. "They have been moved and disappeared into the system and are unavailable to family or counsel, typically for a period of about a week."