If states want to open their version of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the government will pay for its construction.
The grant’s goal is to “support detention activities carried out by non-federal entities and increase the detention capacity of States and local governments,” it says.
“This will relieve overcrowding in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s short-term holding facilities, further the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement plans, and complement U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operational priorities,” the assistance to the states is described.
The grant allows the Trump administration to further assist states with their deportation and migrant detention efforts. FEMA will distribute the funds alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
FEMA is extending funds for immigration purposes, as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has floated closing the agency, and the federal government has slashed FEMA’s staff. “I think the president recognizes that FEMA should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response,” Noem said earlier this month.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) already said he would apply for the grant to help pay for “Alligator Alcatraz,” which he said has a capacity of a “couple thousand” detainees. The facility began deporting migrants with the first deportation flights this week. DHS officials previously said the facility costs $450 million annually.
Human Rights Watch released a report this week alleging “extreme overcrowding” in Florida immigration facilities. The funds could help Florida improve the problem.
DHS STARTS DEPORTATION FLIGHTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’: DESANTIS
More than 56,000 migrants are in detention centers as of July 2025, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research center at Syracuse University.
States have until Aug. 8 to apply for the grant.
