Florida admits federal funding for Alligator Alcatraz may not come

Florida Attorney General James Uthemeier acknowledged that the promised federal reimbursement of $608 million for immigration detention at facilities like Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades may never come, according to a court filing on Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

“The State took the risk (and still does) that federal funding will not materialize,” Uthmeier and the state’s contracted corporate attorneys wrote to the court.

“Promised funds are still only ‘likely,’” the state wrote on behalf of Florida’s Department of Emergency Management. There has not been evidence filed in the case of “any legal, enforceable right the State had to the ‘promised’ funds,” the state wrote.

Their blunt acknowledgement that the more than half-billion-dollar price tag for the pop-up detention center could fall on Florida taxpayers is the latest in a long-running back-and-forth over why the state hasn’t been reimbursed yet, as state and federal officials initially said they would be.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2026/02/25/alligator-alcatraz-federal-funding-reimbursement-trump-desantis-uthmeier/