‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees relocated, ICE announces

Officials decline to specify how many people have been moved from widely criticized Florida facility or where to Detainees from Florida’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail have been relocated to other facilities, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The detention facility in the remote Everglades, celebrated by Donald Trump for its harsh conditions, has been widely expected to close. It quickly attracted headlines for the brutal treatment of detainees after opening last year. ICE announced on Tuesday that all detainees at the state-run site had been moved, but did not specify how many, or where they were taken. The agency, NBC Miami reported, said: “As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft sided facility. For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.” ICE did not immediately respond when contacted for comment by the Guardian. The transfers come amid allegations of human rights abuses at the detention center. In a report published in December 2025, Amnesty International alleged that detainees were shackled inside a 2ft-high metal cage