Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans Thursday to open a second immigration detention facility, this time at Baker Correctional Institution, about 43 miles west of Jacksonville. The site will initially provide 1,300 beds, with the capacity to expand to 2,000, state officials said.
The move comes a month after the state opened a controversial detention site at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” DeSantis said the new Baker County facility — dubbed “Deportation Depot” — will help meet demand from the Trump administration to hold and deport more immigrants.
According to the governor, repurposing an existing state prison will keep costs down, with an estimated $6 million price tag compared to hundreds of millions for the southern site’s tent-and-trailer complex.
The announcement comes as a federal judge considers the legality of the Everglades facility amid ongoing legal and political debates over immigration enforcement in Florida.
