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Florida still awaits $608 million federal reimbursement for 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Documents reveal new details about funding dispute as environmental lawsuit challenges facility's federal status

WPTV

By: Jamie Ostroff

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Three months after the federal government approved Florida for more than $608 million in reimbursement for running "Alligator Alcatraz," the state still hasn't received any money.

Documents obtained by WPTV through court filings reveal new details about the relationship between the state and federal governments regarding the controversial immigration detention facility.

WATCH BELOW: Florida still awaits $608M federal reimbursement for 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Florida still awaits $608M federal reimbursement for 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Alligator Alcatraz opened last summer as the first state-run immigration detention facility in the U.S. Gov. Ron DeSantis said from the beginning that the federal government would pay for it, and a $608 million FEMA grant was approved months later for that reason.

Since then, questions have emerged about whether the Everglades detention facility is a state or federal project. That distinction is important because of an ongoing lawsuit against the state and federal governments that claims a federal environmental law was violated when Alligator Alcatraz was built.

Both governments argue that the law would not apply to a state project.

Friends of the Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Late Wednesday night, they filed newly-obtained records, including a letter from FEMA to the Florida Department of Emergency Management awarding the grant effective Sept. 30, 2025. The filing also includes emails between state and federal officials discussing the grant application in the months leading up to the grant award.

Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, says FEMA awarding the state of Florida $608 million in reimbursement shows that Alligator Alcatraz is a federal project. A district judge agreed with the plaintiffs' claims and ordered the shutdown of Alligator Alcatraz following an evidentiary hearing in August.

An appeals court reversed the lower court's ruling in September, allowing the detention facility to continue operating while the case is pending. The records in Wednesday's filings were not available at the time.

"Back in August and repeatedly during those four days of testimony, the state and federal defendants said, 'we have not applied for or received federal funding for this project,' and they were using that to dodge responsibility for complying with this bedrock federal environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act that we sued under," Samples said. "And we learned now that in the midst of those four days of hearings, they did in fact apply for the FEMA funding."

Samples hopes these documents will persuade the appellate court to rethink its September decision.

The federal government said in court filings last month they have not paid any of the reimbursement, calling the plans for federal funding "unrealized" and "legally insufficient."

The Department of Homeland Security and Florida Division of Emergency Management didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

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