Florida to Open 2nd Illegal Immigration Deportation Facility

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Aug. 14 that the state would open a second deportation facility, “Deportation Depot,” to further increase Florida’s ability to assist the Trump Administration’s push to detain, process, and deport illegal immigrants.

The facility, he said, would be slightly smaller than the state’s recently opened facility, Alligator Alcatraz.

Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, Florida, an unincorporated community in Baker County off Interstate 10, less than an hour’s drive west of Jacksonville, Florida, was selected to host the new facility. Like Alligator Alcatraz, it will be developed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management with later reimbursements from the Department of Homeland Security, and it will be a place from which detained illegal immigrants will be put on deportation flights, DeSantis said.

“Now, Alligator Alcatraz has the runway right there. That’s a one-stop shop. I don’t think you’d get any more convenient than simply carting people 2,000 feet away and get them on a plane and then that’s it,” DeSantis said at a press conference held outside the prison. “But here at Baker Correctional, we’re right down the road from Lake City Airport, and so that is something that is good, that’s something that’s going to make a difference.”

Lake City Airport is just 15 minutes away from the correctional facility, and the new depot is expected to temporarily hold more than 1,300 detained illegal immigrants in preparation for their deportation.

“We want to process, stage, and then return illegal aliens to their home country,” the governor said. “That is the name of the game, and that’s what we do in Florida. We know that this is an important national priority, not only of President Trump, but of the American people.”

The governor touted the Deportation Depot as only the latest action taken by the Sunshine State to assist the Trump administration’s deportation plans. It follows not only the creation of Alligator Alcatraz, but also the first state legislation passed in the country to ensure all levels of law enforcement are empowered and mandated to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We have done more on this than any other state by a country mile,” the governor said. “We’re the only state in the country that requires all state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in ICE operations. We have that as a requirement of our state law.”

The governor did not disclose an exact opening date for the new facility, and his announcement follows a federal judge’s order to block any further development at Alligator Alcatraz yet allow ongoing operations to continue.