A Dedicated FEMA Fund Will Pay for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Q: Are FEMA funds being used to construct an immigrant detention facility in the Everglades?

A: Yes, the immigrant detention facility in Florida, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is being “funded largely” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. The funding does not come from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund.

An immigration detention center has been constructed and was expected to open this week on an airfield in the Everglades, about 45 miles west of Miami, Florida, to house as many as 5,000 detainees before deportation. State officials dubbed the facility “Alligator Alcatraz” because the surrounding swampy area is inhabited by alligators, pythons and mosquitoes, and its isolation is reminiscent of the infamous, former federal prison on an island in San Francisco Bay.