(The Center Square) – The cost of building an immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” might fall to Florida taxpayers, according to the latest filings in a lawsuit challenging the facility.
In a filing earlier this month with a federal appeals court, attorneys for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the U.S. government “had not made a final decision to reimburse costs for this or any other facility.” The attorneys cited “problems with the state’s application” that prevented FEMA from making a final decision.
The Department of Homeland Security previously said that FEMA Shelter Program Funds would be used to pay approximately $450 million a year to operate the detention center in the Everglades, court documents claim.
Noem said last July that FEMA would cover the majority of the costs of the facility, designed to hold up to 5,000 people.
“I said all along that we would be reimbursed,” Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X in October after the Department of Homeland Security said the state was awarded reimbursement funds.
Signals that indicated otherwise were revealed in an ongoing lawsuit filed by environmental advocacy group Friends of the Everglades. The group argues the detention center was built without a federal environmental review, therefore violating the National Environmental Policy Act.
Federal government lawyers say the facility is not subject to the National Environmental Policy Act as “the state had not received federal funding,” according to their latest court filing.
It argues that statements made by public officials do not constitute an official funding decision with any legal effect.
The plaintiffs referred to a letter dated Sept. 30, 2025 that seemed to indicate an award decision had been made, but federal attorneys said it was “a purely programmatic award, untethered to any specific facility” and that the letter placed all funds on hold and barred any obligation without further FEMA approval.
“Crucially, the documents show that FEMA may not reimburse (Florida Division of Emergency Management) for construction costs, and may ultimately disallow the requested costs altogether,” the attorneys wrote.
