Florida is attempting to open its second immigration processing center in less time than it took the state to set up Alligator Alcatraz.
When asked if the timeline for opening the facility at Clay County’s Camp Blanding will be the same as Alligator Alcatraz, which took eight days, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said: “Maybe we can do even better.”
Florida will start building its second immigration detention center after the July 4th holiday weekend. At a roundtable at Alligator Alcatraz on July 1, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said construction will start “right after our wonderful Independence Day.”
“I think Blanding will look a little different because they have more existing infrastructure,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press availability at Alligator Alcatraz on July 1. “… Blanding actually has buildings and facilities that we can repurpose for this.”
The state is planning to hold 2,000 detainees at the migrant facility in Camp Blanding, the main training base for the Florida National Guard, and 3,000 in Alligator Alcatraz, located in Ochopee in the Everglades.
While talking to reporters after the roundtable, DeSantis said if the state plans on opening a third detention center that it would likely be located in the Panhandle. A question is pending with the governor’s spokespeople on a location.
DeSantis described these sites as a “one-stop shop.”
“You drive (immigrants) 2,000 feet to the runway, and then they’re gone,” he added.
Camp Blanding has an air field, which the state plans to use to remove detained immigrants to their countries of origin. Alligator Alcatraz was built around the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Miami-Dade County, also to accomplish the fast removal of immigrants.
The state’s “blueprint” for mass deportation, a 37-page immigration enforcement operations plan, explicitly says the state wants to house detained immigrants in “soft-sided” detention centers on state-owned airplane runways.
Camp Blanding is state property; DeSantis used emergency powers to wrest control of the 39-square mile site for Alligator Alcatraz away from Miami-Dade County.
“I would just say, stay tuned,” DeSantis said.
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis fast-tracks second one-stop deportation center as he weighs a third in Panhandle
Reporting by Ana Goñi-Lessan, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
