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Feds reimburse Florida $608 million for immigration detention facilities like 'Alligator Alcatraz'

'Another bogus narrative bites the dust. I said all along that we would be reimbursed,' Gov. Ron DeSantis posts on X

AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

A police officer urges Art Sennholtz, 80, center, and Christy Howard, 70, of Just Us Volusia to be careful of fast-moving traffic as they hold protest signs outside the entrance to an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz," Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier County, Fla.

By: Scott Sutton , Associated Press

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The federal government this week reimbursed Florida $608 million for the state's immigrant-detention efforts, a FEMA spokesperson confirmed to WPTV.

The news comes after the state spent millions this year building facilities like the Everglades-based "Alligator Alcatraz" and the so-called "Deportation Depot" near Jacksonville.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis has vehemently said for months that the money spent by the state to assist with carrying out President Donald Trump's agenda to deport undocumented migrants living in the U.S. would be reimbursed by the federal government.

DeSantis posted on X Thursday that "another bogus narrative bites the dust. I said all along that we would be reimbursed."

WPTV reported in August that emails between high-ranking officials at the Florida Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suggest the federal government was never expecting to pay Florida back for the entirety of the detention center.

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An Associated Press analysis of publicly available state spending data showed that as of late August, Florida had signed at least $405 million in vendor contracts to build and operate the facility, which officials initially estimated would cost $450 million a year to run.

Last month, a federal appeals court panel put on hold a lower court judge's order to end operations indefinitely at "Alligator Alcatraz." The three-judge panel voted to stay the federal judge's order pending the outcome of an appeal.

Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups around the nation as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.