Alligator Alcatraz cost reimbursement in question

(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 De...