SANDERSON, Fla. — Florida taxpayers may be on the hook for more than $200 million after a judge upheld a ruling to shut down the controversial immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” located in the Everglades.

The decision comes amid reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system at the facility.

State Representative Angie Nixon criticized the spending and the handling of the center.

“They knew that this place was gonna get shut down,” Nixon said. “They did it anyway and they’re now trying to do the same thing at Baker County and so we should be outraged.”

Plans are underway to open a second immigration detention center at the former Baker Correctional Institution in Baker County, dubbed as the “Deportation Depot.”

Governor Ron DeSantis defended the state’s actions, emphasizing the importance of continuing deportations and meeting detention space demands.

“We have to continue with this mission,” he said. “It’s important and ultimately it’s going to be good for the state of Florida.”

Maria Garcia, an organizer with the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, expressed concern over the new center and is planning a protest.

Garcia highlighted the story of Diana, co-owner of a local coffee shop in Jacksonville who was detained during a mental health emergency despite legally pursuing immigration status.

“She is a valued community member,” Garcia said. “This deportation machine doesn’t just affect faceless, nameless people, they’re part of our community, they contribute, they run businesses, they create economic opportunity.”

The Department of Homeland Security sent First Coast News the following statement:

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. This activist judge’s order is yet another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country. Not to mention this ruling ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade.

DHS is complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities. We will continue to fight tooth-and-nail to remove the worst of the worst from American streets.

This activist judge doesn’t care about the invasion of our country facilitated by the Biden administration, but the American people do. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”

Alligator Alcatraz, which has capacity for 3,000 detainees, must be empty by late October, according to the judge’s order.