Overview
- Vendors were told Tuesday that detainee transfers will start in early June and the Everglades site will be dismantled in the weeks after.
- Florida has sought $608 million in federal reimbursement and has been paying more than $1 million a day to run the facility, with some contractors reporting invoices more than 200 days overdue.
- The Department of Homeland Security said it is not pressuring the state to close the site, while Governor Ron DeSantis calls the facility temporary and says it enabled 22,000 deportations.
- About 1,400 people are held there, according to ICE data, and officials have not said where they will go, though DeSantis has pointed to federal facilities and a return to normal airport operations.
- Courts recently required better confidential access to lawyers for detainees after an earlier closure order was overturned, and advocates have long flagged heat, insects, scarce food, and the remote location as harms.