Florida's new immigrant detention site dubbed 'Deportation Depot' is now taking detainees, officials say

Source: CNN US

Updated Sep 5, 2025, 5:56 PM ET
PUBLISHED Sep 5, 2025, 12:13 PM ET


Florida has opened its second immigration detention site, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” amid an ongoing legal battle over its controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.

The facility is at a temporarily closed state prison, the Baker Correctional Institution, which is housing 117 detainees with the capacity to hold 1,500 people, according to the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis. It is about 45 miles west of Jacksonville near the Osceola National Forest.

“Deportation Depot” opened a day after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a judge’s order requiring the state and federal government to shut down “Alligator Alcatraz,” located deep in the marshy wetlands of the Everglades.

A number of states have announced similar sites to supplement what the Trump administration has described as limited capacity in immigration detention centers nationwide. “Deportation Depot” is part of that equation and just one part of the Florida governor’s push for an expansion of the state’s detention centers to hold immigrants.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/us/deportation-depot-florida-open