Florida initially asked the federal government for nearly $1.5 billion to cover the cost of Alligator Alcatraz — more than double the $608 million FEMA grant that was later announced, according to documents obtained by WPTV.
I obtained thousands of pages of documents from the Florida Division of Emergency Management connected to the immigration detention center in the Everglades.
WATCH: Florida's $1.5B ask for Alligator Alcatraz revealed
The documents include a grant application submitted to FEMA in August, in which the Florida Division of Emergency Management requested $1.49 billion. At that point, Florida had been housing immigration detainees at Alligator Alcatraz for about a month and a half.
WPTV has previously reported on the nearly $600 million the state of Florida has spent on immigration enforcement, on the $608 million FEMA grant that Governor Ron DeSantis announced in October to reimburse the state for immigration detention, and on court filings in which the federal government appears to walk back its promise to pay Florida back — something that still has not happened.
The documents were released following a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades, the Miccosukee Tribe, and other environmental groups.
"It was a shock," said Paul Schwiep, one of the lawyers representing the group, when asked about the nearly $1.5 billion figure.
Schwiep and his clients plan to use the documents in a separate federal lawsuit, arguing that the National Environmental Policy Act was violated when Alligator Alcatraz was built.
"They just confirm what we've known all along: that this facility in the Everglades was requested by the federal government, built by the state in conjunction with the federal government," Schwiep said.
The federal and state governments have pushed back in that case, arguing Alligator Alcatraz is paid for and run by the state of Florida and therefore not subject to federal law.
State
Court filings raise doubts Florida will be reimbursed for Alligator Alcatraz
"The way the National Environmental Policy Act is supposed to work is before you begin construction of a federal project, that's when you analyze what the environmental impacts of that will be," Schwiep said.
"I sense this is close to 100% but we are awaiting final steer from our DHS general counsel on the environmental litigation matter," read part of an email sent from a FEMA official to FDEM in late September.
The message, which was included in the newly released documents, refers to the possibility of keeping awarded funds "on-hold pending budget resolution/agreement, other litigation-oriented holds, etc."
Gov. DeSantis announced the $608 million award about a week after that email was sent.
"We take [FEMA], as the judge did, at their word when they say that they're just holding the actual disbursement, because this litigation is ongoing," Schwiep said.
When Alligator Alcatraz opened on July 1, President Donald Trump visited the facility and addressed the funding behind it.
"We took the FEMA money that Joe Biden allocated to pay for free luxury hotel rooms where he was paying hundreds of millions of dollars in NYC, and we used it to build this project," Trump said.
I had a scheduled interview with White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson to ask about President Trump's immigration agenda, and his previous statements that FEMA was paying for Alligator Alcatraz. Jackson did not show up for the interview. A White House staffer told me later that Jackson couldn't make it because of breaking news.
The document release includes thousands of pages. As I continue to sort through them, you can expect more reporting on this and what it means for your tax dollars.
FEMA GRANT APPLICATION:
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