The state of Florida opened a migrant detention center in the Everglades. Its official name is Aligator Alcatraz, referring to the former Federal Penitentiary of Maximum Security in the Bay of San Francisco.
During a visit to Aligator Alcatraz on July 1, 2025, President Donald Trump declared: “These facilities will house some of the most threatening migrants, some of the most cruel people on the planet.” However, a new report from Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times reveals that, of more than 700 detainees, only one third has a criminal record.
For more information on the participation of the state of Florida in the application of the immigration law and who can be detained in Aligator Alcatraz, The Conversation spoke with Mark Schlakman. Schlakman is a lawyer and senior director of the Center for the Advance of Human Rights of the State University of Florida.
He also served as a special advisor to the governor of Florida, Lawton Chiles, working as a kind of link with the federal government in the mid -1990s, when tens of thousands of Haitians and Cubans fled from their island countries in improvised vessels, with the hope of finding refuge in Florida.
The secretary of the US National Security Department, Kristi Noem, characterized migrants arrested in centers such as Aligator Alcatraz as “murderers, rapists, traffickers and drug traffickers.” Do we know if the detainees in Aligator Alcatraz were convicted of this type of crime?
The Times/Herald published a list of 747 detainees until Sunday, July 13, 2025. Their reporters discovered that approximately one third of the detainees have criminal convictions, including murder attempt, illegal re -entry to the US (a federal crime) and traffic offenses. Apparently, hundreds of more people have pending positions, although neither the federal nor the state have made public what they are.
There are also more than 250 detainees with no criminal record, only for migratory violations.
Is it a crime to be in the US without legal status? In other words, is a crime a migratory violation?
No, not necessarily. It is well established by law that the physical presence in the US without due authorization constitutes a civil violation, not a criminal offense.
However, if the Federal Government previously deported someone, it may be subject to a federal criminal process if you try to return without permission. This seems to be the case with some of the detainees in Aligator Alcatraz.
What usually happens if a foreigner commits a crime in the US?
Normally, if a foreigner is accused of committing a crime, he is processed in a state court like any other person. If they are convicted and sentenced to prison, they fulfill their sentence in a state prison. Once the sentence has been completed, state officials can deliver them to the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE). They are subject to deportation, but a federal immigration judge can hear any reason for exemption.
The DHS clarified that it has not implemented, authorized, directed or financed Aligator Alcatraz, but that the state of Florida provides initial funds and manages this installation. What is Florida’s interest in this? Is it mainly migrants arrested for ICE in Florida?
It is not yet known with certainty where most of these detainees were apprehended. However, according to a list of six detainees published by the Office of the Attorney General of Florida, James Uthmeier, it is evident that at least some were apprehended outside Florida, and others could simply have been transferred to Aligator Alcatraz from federal custody in another place.
This recalls the moment of 2022 when Governor Ron Desantis transferred approximately 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, at the expense of Florida taxpayers. These migrants also had no visible presence in Florida.
To establish Aligator Alcatraz, Desantis used a migratory emergency statement, in force since January 6, 2023. An emergency state allows a governor to exercise extraordinary executive authority. Thus, he avoided requirements such as the environmental impact analysis in the Everglades and the concerns expressed by tribal governments around that area.
Read more: Is it ‘Aligator Alcatraz’ ” disgusting ‘or’ professional ‘? What they say critics and defenders about that installation
Migration emergency, Florida achieved to stand up Aligator Alcatraz
For now, the Governor’s statement still is not questioned by the Florida Legislature. Environmental defenders have filed a lawsuit for the Aligator Alcatraz case, and the United States Supreme Court confirmed the decision of a federal judge who temporarily prohibits Florida applying his new immigration laws, defended by Desantis. However, no court still intervened to challenge this prolonged state of emergency.
This contrasts markedly with the migratory emergency declaration of Governor Lawton Chiles in the mid -1990s. At that time, tens of thousands of Cubans and Haitians tried to reach the coast of Florida in virtually any floating vessel. Chiles as governor’s actions were based on his experience as a US senator during Mariel’s exodus in 1980, when 125,000 Cubans played land in Florida in just six months.
Chiles sued the Clinton administration for not applying the American immigration law properly. But Chiles also signed unprecedented agreements with the federal government, such as the 1996 Florida immigration initiative with the United States Attorney General Janet Reno. His intention was to protect taxpayers from Florida and, at the same time, strengthen the federal capacity to apply the law, without dehumanizing people fleeing desperate circumstances.
During my period as part of the Chiles team, the governor generally opposed the state legislation related to immigration. In the Federalist Government System of the United States, immigration is the competence of the federal government, not of the States. Chiles’s main concern was that Floridans did not have to assume what federal costs and responsibilities should be.
Chiles was open for state and local officials to support the federal application of the immigration law. However, he was aware that this required subtlety to avoid undermining community police work, public health priorities and economic health and Florida’s key industries. To this day, the position of the International Police Chiefs Association reflects Chiles’s concern for such cooperation with the Federal Government.
Now, in 2025, Desantis adopted a completely different strategy when using the Florida taxpayers money to establish Aligator Alcatraz. The state of Florida contributed 450 million dollars to finance this installation. According to reports, Desantis intends to request a reimbursement from the Fema shelter and services program. Ultimately, the intervention of the Congress may be necessary to obtain it. Florida is lending 500 million dollars to the Federal Government and providing another assistance to support the Trump administration migratory control agenda.
Florida is also establishing another migrant detention center at the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, near Jacksonville. Apparently, a third is being considered for Panhandle.
ICE states that the final decision on who to stop in these facilities corresponds to the state of Florida, through the Florida Emergency Management Division. The members of the Congress visited Aligator Alcatraz earlier this week have questioned the ICE statement that Florida is in charge.
You directly advised the Directorate of the Florida Emergency Management Division for several years during the administrations of Governors Charlie Crist and Rick Scott. To administer a detention center such as Aligator Alcatraz is part of its usual mission?
The division is responsible for preparing and responding to both natural and man disasters. In Florida, this generally means hurricanes. While the division can participate to facilitate shelters, I do not remember any policy or procedure that contemplates something remotely similar to Aligator Alcatraz.
Desantis could argue that this is consistent with an agreement 287 (g) that authorizes state and local support for the application of the Federal Immigration Law. However, these agreements usually demand the federal supervision of state and local activities, not vice versa.
* Mark smartman He is a senior director of programs at the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights of the State University of Florida.
This text was originally published in The Conversation
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