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Florida signed more than $250M in contracts for 'Alligator Alcatraz' before court orders shutdown

Critical Response Strategies, a Jacksonville-based consulting firm, has $78.5 million contract with state

Courtesy Jessica Namath via AP

In this photo provided by Jessica Namath, a man takes a photo of a new roadside sign labeled "Alligator Alcatraz" near a new immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades, in Ochopee, Fla. on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.

By: Ethan Stein

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida has signed more than $250 million in contracts to build "Alligator Alcatraz", according to records from the state's contract tracking system.

Officials anticipate the federal government will reimburse the costs for the first state-run migrant detention center in the country, which is projected to cost about $450 million annually. Government attorneys used these payments as part of their defense in a federal lawsuit concerning environmental issues, which eventually resulted in an order posted Thursday night to close the facility within 60 days.

The Governor's Office is the state agency signing these documents, according to the public database.

The largest contract WPTV reporter Ethan Stein found was to Critical Response Strategies, a Jacksonville-based consulting firm. The contract said the provider would hire a warden, camp managers, corrections officers, IT workers and other services for $78.5 million.

WPTV also found Longview Solutions Group being paid $25.6 million for site preparation, civil engineering, road construction and fence installation.

Another company, called Doodie Calls, was awarded a $22 million contract for portable toilets and shower trailers.

Gothams, another company, received a $21.1 million contract to provide IT services, access badges and wristbands for detainees.

Another contract shows SLSCO LTD and Garner Environmental Services were both awarded $19.7 million to build out the site and address ongoing maintenance issues.

The governor's executive order declaring a state of emergency due to mass migration was originally signed in January 2023, which allowed the state to spend this money. It's been extended because the state argues the situation continues to strain local resources.

Kevin Guthrie, Florida's director for the Division of Emergency Management, said all of these contracts were competitively bid for years before the facility opened.

"Everything here has been competitively bid off of master contracts that went to competitive procurement a year, two years, three years ago," Guthrie told reporters last month.

Guthrie also told reporters the state removed some details from the database because those contracts showed those companies' rates on those competitive contracts, which he claimed gave competitors an advantage in the future.

David Richardson, a senior official performing FEMA Administrator duties, said DHS announced $600 million in federal funding for the Detention Support Grant Program.

Richardson said the program will provide financial assistance through a federal award to support sheltering of illegal aliens in a detention environment and related activities to avoid overcrowding in U.S. Customs and Border Protection short-term holding facilities. The only eligible applicant under the program, he said, is the Florida Division of Emergency Management, but Florida hasn’t applied for the award yet.

Attorneys for the government argued that since Florida paid for the detention camp's construction and staffed it with state employees, it had to follow state rules rather than federal laws for construction. Those federal laws include an environmental assessment and an environmental impact statement.

A judge dismissed the argument, saying the following:

"Instead of addressing the failure to issue an EIS or conduct an EA as a final agency action, Defendants attempt to reframe the issue as one involving the detention camp’s ultimate funding,” wrote District Judge Kathleen Williams. “Defendants point to the fact that the detention camp’s construction costs have been initially shouldered by Florida to be submitted to the federal government for reimbursement. Accordingly, Defendants argue that the “reimbursement decision . . . has not yet been made . . . [and] there cannot be final agency action. However, the Court does not, and is not, compelled to focus on the funding decision, since the lack of an EIS and EA qualifies as final agency action given Federal Defendants' intimate involvement in, and control over, the detention facility."

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