The newly opened ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention center is set to cost US taxpayers a pretty penny.
As President Donald Trump continues to launch his assault on immigration numbers in the US, the Sunshine State welcomed a brand new detention center facility as of July 1 this year.
The new center, constructed on the site of the former Dade-Collier Training and Transport Airport, sits in the Everglades region, west of Miami, Florida, and is allegedly surrounded by 'alligator- and python-infested waters'.
The facility is capable of housing up to 3,000 people and already the first detainees have reported problems since they moved in, including 'torturous' conditions, 'maggots' in the food, no water for bathing and a constant stream of lights on 24 hours per day.
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Some say they haven't 'seen the sun' in days and have been kept in 'cages like chickens' while dozens are forced to share one of three toilets visible by 'everyone'.
Meanwhile, environmentalists have also claimed the rapidly constructed center, made in a matter of eight days on an old runway, bypassed environmental permits and could pose harm to the animals and ecosystem that surround it, as per Miami Herald.
Now, new figures released by the state have revealed the center will cost the US state the state an eye-watering amount - to the tune of $450 million a year, if not higher as bills continue to rise, reports News Channel 9.
According to Florida State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, that cost is three times the amount it currently costs to keep migrants in existing correctional facilities or prisons.
"There’s a huge financial cost to taxpayers to have a tent city on top of the Florida Everglades rather than utilizing existing detention centers," he said. "The average cost to the State of Florida to incarcerate an individual into one of our state prisons or correctional facilities is approximately $27,000 per year, so if you just do the back of the napkin math on the cost of the Everglades camp... $450 million to taxpayers... with a maximum capacity of 5,000 individuals, you’re looking at over $90,000 a year per person."
It has been built to house thousands of undocumented people on a temporary basis until they're able to be flown back to their country of birth, though notably is made of mostly tents that would be ill-equipped to withstand a Category 3 hurricane.
The insight comes as Florida Democrats have criticised its opening, aggravated by the fact they were denied access to Alligator Alcatraz in the first instance.
Then after a state-arranged tour, Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed it as an 'internment camp' that needs to be 'shut the hell down'.
She said images of the facility 'don't do it justice' and that people were 'packed into cages'.
Meanwhile, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis defended the facility earlier this month, stating: "It's not the Four Seasons.
"It is a professional processing center to effectuate the deportation of illegal aliens," he added. "That's what it's for. It's professionally run. It's going to be value-added, and they're [democrats] going to be able to see it."
He also waived away criticism about a potential hurricane, stating: "This ain't our first rodeo - and there’s not one place in Florida that would be totally immune to a hurricane."
Stephanie Hartman, Deputy Director of Communications at the Florida Division of Emergency Management, previously told UNILAD: "The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order."
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson also told Sky News: "Alligator Alcatraz is a state-of-the-art facility that will play a critical role in fulfilling the president's promise to get the worst criminal illegal aliens out of America as fast as possible.
"President Trump is grateful to partner with [Homeland] Secretary [Kristi] Noem and Ron DeSantis on this important project."
Topics: Donald Trump, Environment, Florida, Immigration, Politics, US News
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