OCHOPEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at the immigration detention center Alligator Alcatraz Friday morning to give an update on how the site is progressing and to answer accusations made about the controversial facility.
DeSantis announced that the Department of Homeland Security has begun to conduct flights out of Alligator Alcatraz, bringing the immigrants back to their home country. He said that hundreds of detainees have been removed from the facility already.
"This provides an ability to enhance the mission to increase the number and frequency of deportations," DeSantis said. "So what’s been done here has really been remarkable."
WATCH BELOW: Deportation flights from Alligator Alcatraz begin before attorneys allowed to access clients
The facility, staged at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, has the ability to have commercial-sized aircraft both day and night.
"So that's what it's all about, to be able to help process and remove folks that are legally in the state of Florida and in the United States of America," DeSantis said. "So we look forward to this cadence increasing."
The governor said he is also working closely with the Department of Justice to deputize state officers, including the National Guard, to become immigration officers on-site to help expedite processing.
"We have not yet had any approval for anybody to be able to come down here and do that, but we do anticipate that happening very soon, and when that happens, you're going to have an availability of a lot of folks to be able to be ripe to be able to be removed and ultimately sent back to their home countries," DeSantis said.
WATCH: Gov. DeSantis announces deportation flights have begun from Alligator Alcatraz
Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said that the facility currently has the capacity for around 2,000 detainees, with the ability to double in size if they determine there's a need.
Guthrie also took time to respond to concerns surrounding the facility hurting the ecosystem of the Everglades.
"There were over 100 flights a day coming in and out of this facility; there are many less than 100 flights a day coming in and out of the facility now," Guthrie said. "With the airstrip infrastructure already in place, this location has made it even easier for us to coordinate deportation flights, directly on site."
