Florida Opens New ‘Deportation Depot’ Migrant Detention Center

Florida has launched a second migrant detention center called the “Deportation Depot,” now officially operating and housing detainees, Governor Ron DeSantis’ office confirmed to Fox News on Friday.

The new facility is located in the former Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, in northern Florida. The first group of detainees arrived on Tuesday, September 2, and by Friday the population had reached 117. The site has space for up to 1,500 individuals.

“The Baker County facility will now be a great supplement to Alligator Alcatraz. We’ll use as many of the detention spaces as we can,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier told Fox News. “We want to fill them up. We want deliver on this mission. The Baker County site was actually a pre-existing state jail that was no longer in use. So it’s already retrofitted out to hold a lot of people. We’ll fill it up quickly and we’ll put it to good use.”

The opening comes just one day after a federal appeals court paused a lower court ruling that sought to shut down Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in the Everglades.

The appeals panel voted 2-1 to stay the judge’s order during the appeal process, keeping the facility operational for the time being.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams had issued a preliminary injunction last month, blocking further expansion at “Alligator Alcatraz” and requiring Florida to scale down operations by the end of October. She also ordered detainees be transferred elsewhere and equipment removed from the site.

The lawsuit was filed by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Miccosukee Tribe, who claim the state and federal government bypassed federal environmental review requirements. They argue the detention center endangers protected wetlands and wildlife.

President Donald Trump toured the Everglades facility in July and suggested it could serve as a model for similar centers across the country as part of his mass deportation strategy.

Responding to Thursday’s ruling, DeSantis dismissed claims the site was shutting down. “We said we would fight that. We said the mission would continue. So Alligator Alcatraz is in fact, like we’ve always said, open for business,” he said on social media.

Attorney General Uthmeier added that he does not anticipate legal challenges to the Baker County “Deportation Depot.”