Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration in Florida is working on establishing a second immigration detention center, with at least one contract awarded, indicated in state records as the “North Detention Facility.”

This new facility will complement the existing state detention center, located at a remote airfield in the Florida Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Over $245 million in contracts have been signed for this first facility, which began operations on July 1.

The planned second detention center is set to be constructed at a Florida National Guard training site called Camp Blanding, roughly 27 miles (43 kilometers) southwest of Jacksonville. However, DeSantis mentioned that the state is waiting for federal authorities to increase deportations from the current South Florida facility before proceeding with the development at the Camp Blanding location.

DeSantis expressed his anticipation for more frequent deportations, stating last month that the state is “ready, willing and able” to expand its operations.

Lawsuits have been filed by civil rights and environmental organizations against the Everglades facility, where detainees report inadequate food and medical care, restricted access to legal representation, indefinite holding without charges, and the inability to have their cases heard in federal immigration court.

Former President Donald Trump has praised the facility’s strictness and isolation as suitable for the most dangerous detainees, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem views the South Florida detention center as a potential model for other state-operated immigrant holding centers.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management, the state agency that built the Everglades facility, has awarded a $39,000 contract for a portable emergency response weather station and two lightning sirens for what’s been dubbed the “North Detention Facility,” according to records in the state’s public contract database. The equipment will help enable “real-time weather monitoring and safety alerting for staff.”

The contract comes as the state approaches the peak of hurricane season, and as heavy rains and extreme heat have pounded parts of Florida. Immigrant advocates and environmentalists have raised a host of concerns about the Everglades facility, a remote compound of heavy-duty tents and trailers that state workers and contractors assembled in a matter of days.

Last week, FDEM released a heavily redacted draft emergency evacuation plan for what the document called the “South Florida Detention Facility.” Entire sections related to detainee transportation, evacuation and relocation procedures were blacked out, under a Florida law that allows state agencies to make their emergency plans confidential. Despite multiple public records requests by The Associated Press, the department has not produced other evacuation plans, environmental impact studies or agency analyses for the facility.

Questioned by reporters on July 25, FDEM executive director Kevin Guthrie defended the emergency response agency’s plans for the makeshift facility, which he says is built to withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of up to 110 mph.

“I promise you that the hurricane guys have got the hurricane stuff covered,” Guthrie said.

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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