Florida officials diverted crucial disaster preparedness resources to support the hasty construction of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention jail, a newly published report has claimed. Analysis of $20m in contracts by Talking Points Memo (TPM) showed some went to donors or political allies of Governor Ron DeSantis.
The largest contract, worth $11.9m, was awarded to Meridian Rapid Defense Group LLC, a firm that provided vehicle barriers used at DeSantis’s 2023 inauguration. Another $24,740 contract went to WeatherSTEM Inc, whose founder gave $3,000 to DeSantis in 2021; the company charged rush fees for lightning detectors. TPM identified four vendors with financial ties to the governor or the state Republican party.
Copies of the contracts were posted on the Florida department of financial services website but disappeared during TPM’s reporting. DeSantis has said the jail was built using $450m in taxpayers’ money he expects to be refunded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though Trump administration officials have distanced themselves from the project.
In a separate development, a 15-year-old Mexican national was detained at the remote Everglades jail for several days, despite state and federal authorities insisting only adults were housed there. Florida Democrats, including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, condemned the diversion of disaster funds as “irresponsible” and the jail conditions as “inhumane”.
