BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday morning that Baker County will soon house a new immigration detention center he’s calling “Deportation Depot.”

During a press briefing in Sanderson, DeSantis noted that the increasing need for additional space for deportees has been fulfilled. He stated this is the catalyst for establishing the state’s second immigration detention center.

Collaborating with federal immigration officials, Gov. DeSantis stressed that the ultimate aim of the new facility is to expedite deportations within the state.

He mentioned that the Baker County Correctional Institution would be repurposed into this immigration center. It is designed to accommodate over 1,300 detainees, although Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie pointed out that the state can expand capacity to about 2,000 with temporary dormitories if needed.

“This initiative is focused on border security, enforcing immigration laws, and deporting illegal immigrants to their countries of origin,” DeSantis stated during Thursday’s briefing. He underlined that the primary focus is not on long-term stays but on swift processing and deportation.

“The reason of this is not to just house people indefinitely, we want to process, stage and then return illegal aliens to their home country,” he added. “That is the name of the game, and that’s what we do in Florida.”

DeSantis said the facility is just “down the road” from Lake City Gateway Airport. He alluded to this being the place where deportation flights could be carried out from “Deportation Depot.”

The governor previously recommended Camp Blanding as a site for an immigration detention facility. DeSantis said he turned to the Baker County Correctional Institution because “a massive part” of the facility is vacant and isn’t being used for “any state correction activity.”

The new site will mirror the state’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in South Florida, offering medical care, legal access and recreation yards.

“You talk about ready-made infrastructure, this was something that was very appealing from that perspective because it would require us to do a lot less in standing up than we would at [Camp] Blanding and far less than we had to do at Alligator Alcatraz,” DeSantis said. “In fact, setting up here in Baker, because we have so much existing infrastructure, it’s about a $6 million buildout; that would have been a lot more at Blanding and obviously it was more at Alligator Alcatraz.”

Supporters point to Florida’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies, such as requiring all state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE and engaging in joint deportation operations.

Critics, however, say the plan is politically motivated and risks harming individuals who have legal status. 

“Meanwhile, people are suffering and hurting, and not only that, but they’re probably going to be treated inhumanely,” State Rep. Angie Nixon said, who accuses the governor of targeting non-criminal immigrants. 

She cited cases like a Springfield coffee shop owner with legal status who was detained, saying, “This is not fun and games. At the end of the day, these are people’s lives.”

DeSantis further explained that he recommended an immigration detention facility at Camp Blanding due to its proximity to Cecil Field, which has a runway that can play host to deportation flights, “but probably [is] not a big enough runway to handle large planes.”

DeSantis said his goal is to get “Deportation Depot” up and running within a few weeks.