Image Credit: Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images 
Hundreds of illegals held at the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in the Florida Everglades have already been deported.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference at the facility on Friday and said the numbers of deportations from the site would increase dramatically.
“This was never intended to be something where people are just held and we just kind of twiddle our thumbs,” DeSantis said.
“The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens.”
“That is the goal and one of the reasons why this was a sensible spot is that you have a runway that is right here, you don’t have to drive them to an airport, you go a couple of thousand feet and they can be on a plane.”
Alligator Alcatraz was built in a matter of days and currently holds around 2,000 people.
According to Governor DeSantis, the facility can hold double that amount.
“We were able to, under Kevin Guthrie’s leadership, within record time, create a facility that could support intake, processing and eventually deporting these illegal aliens. And that’s important to deport from Florida and obviously from the United States as well, ” DeSantis said.
With the passage of President Trump’s flagship “Big Beautiful Bill,” massive expansion of detention capacity and deportation operations is planned.
The Trump administration has now awarded $1.26 billion to build the nation’s largest detention and deportation center, in Texas.
The center will be constructed at Fort Bliss, a million-acre site close to El Paso, on the Mexican border, with its own airport.
There will be room for 5,000 beds in heated and air-conditioned tents.
The contract has been awarded to Virginia-based company Acquisition Logistics, and over $200 million of the cost will be footed by the US Army.
An ICE official told Bloomberg that the federal government “is indeed pursuing all available options to expand bedspace capacity. This process does include housing detainees at certain military bases.”
A week ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the Department of Homeland Security will construct new detention facilities on other military bases, in Indiana and New Jersey.
Camp Atterbury in central Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey will be available “for temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security to house illegal aliens,” Sec. Hegseth said.
Since President Trump returned to the White House, his administration has added more than 60 new facilities for housing migrants set for deportation.
According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is rushing to expand its detention capacity, after receiving $45 billion in extra funding after the passing of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
The goalis to expand capacity from 40,000 to 100,000 before the end of the year. This will be done, in part, by building a large network of tent camps nationwide.
ICE will also be offering a $50,000 bonus to former agents who rejoin, as it seeks to boost manpower in order to ramp up deportations.
“You served the United States of America with distinction and honor. Now, your country calls upon you to serve once more,” states an email sent by ICE to a retired employee and obtained by The New York Post.
“Due to the prior administration’s disastrous immigration policies, the men and women of ICE now face unprecedented challenges. Your experience and unwavering commitment are critically needed to secure our communities and uphold our laws.”
The details of the new deal, dubbed “Operation Return to Mission,” include the option for former employees to serve in their “current location and previous job series,” as well as the chance to receive a number of bonuses.
ICE will offer a signing bonus of $10,000 upon returning to service, another $10,000 for those who sign up before 1 August and three annual bonuses of $10,000.
Former agents will also be able to retain pension payments and benefits if they come out of retirement.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill provided ICE with an extra $75 billion in funding, including $30 billion for arrest and deportation efforts and $45 billion to expand detention capacity.
