The Tallahassee Democrat revealed that the Florida Department of Emergency Management is “purchasing a WeatherSTEM and two lightning sirens for the facility, according to a state contract, for $39,490.”
The second facility in north Florida has already been identified as Camp Blanding. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has, for weeks, fielded questions on the possibility of transforming Camp Blanding into a second immigration detention center in the Sunshine State but has consistently said that they were waiting until Alligator Alcatraz reaches full capacity.
“I’m willing to do Blanding once Alligator Alcatraz is filled, and so DHS has started moving in a significant number of people. I think you’re going to — and they’re starting to deport people from there too,” DeSantis said last month. “Remember, this is not the Ritz Carlton, ok?”
“But the reality is it’s there to be a quick processing center so that they can — we have a runway right there, they can just be flown back to their home country. So that is the purpose of why we’re doing it. And as that fills, once there’s a demand, then we would be able to go for Camp Blanding,” the governor said, explaining that he did not want a situation where they set up Camp Blanding and have each facility not at capacity.
“But what I don’t want to do is set up Blanding, if, you know, one is 60 percent full and then the other is 40 percent [full]. I’d rather just have — channel everyone to Alligator, since it’s easier,” DeSantis said, although he said Alligator Alcatraz has grown pretty quickly. At the time, he said it would be very possible for the facility to reach capacity within a week or two.
“It’s possible. We also have different ways we can do Blanding. We can use existing infrastructure there, which would not give us as big of a footprint. So, we would end up having, you know, some illegals, but we wouldn’t be able to house like two [thousand] or 3,000 at the existing footprint,” DeSantis explained.
RELATED VIDEO — We NEED Alligator Alcatraz:
“If we build out from there with the temporary structures, that’s when you can get to two [thousand] or 3,000, so we’ll make those decisions based on the facts on the ground,” he added.
DeSantis has since said that roughly 600 detainees have been deported from Alligator Alcatraz by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
RELATED VIDEO — Self-Deport, or Go to Alligator Alcatraz:
During remarks on Friday, DeSantis noted that Camp Blanding also has a runway but is not sure if it would be “equivalent to Alligator Alcatraz because the runway is not as big.”
“You may be able to move people right out of there. You do have Cecil Field very close to that. So, when we look at this, is it really what makes logistical sense? Again, I’m not creating the Four Seasons for illegal aliens. I’m not detaining just to detain,” DeSantis added.
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