Is ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention centre funded by Florida hurricane money?

Isolated Everglades airfield, about 72km (45 miles) west of Miami, where Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' is just days from being operational [Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier/AP]

Florida and federal officials announced the state will build a new immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades – an area of wetlands in the south of the state. Because the facility will be partly funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), some Floridians are worried it will affect hurricane relief funds.

Homeland Security’s Secretary Kristi Noem “is using FEMA funds to build her Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp in Florida. At the beginning of hurricane season”, reads a June 23 X post, “when we can’t pay our bills or fund meals for kids and the elderly.”