Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said the Everglades immigration detention facility will likely have zero individuals within days. Rabbi Mario Rojzman requested chaplaincy services and received Guthrie's response indicating no imminent need. The facility, nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz, has been constructed and overseen by Guthrie's agency. Governor Ron DeSantis attributed the declining detained population to increased deportations by the Department of Homeland Security and said litigation may influence deportation timing. The state and the federal government are engaged in legal disputes over a judge's order to close the site by late October.
A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and the federal government fight a judge's order to shutter the facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by late October. That's according to an email exchange shared with The Associated Press.
In a message sent to South Florida Rabbi Mario Rojzman on Aug. 22 related to providing chaplaincy services at the facility, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said "we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days," implying there would soon be no need for the services.
Questioned about the email exchange by a reporter at an event in Orlando, DeSantis framed the declining population as the result of an uptick in deportations by the Department of Homeland Security. "Ultimately it's DHS's decision where they want to process and stage detainees and it's their decision about when they want to bring them out," DeSantis said. He acknowledged the ongoing litigation may be "an influence" on the pace of deportations.
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