Alligator Alcatraz: the money

What it was

OpenedJuly 3, 2025At the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Everglades. The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) ran it under the governor’s immigration emergency order.GAO-26-108663; AP via NPR

Population1,386 a day, on averageAverage number of people detained there in federal fiscal year 2026, according to GAO. GAO found ICE had no contract or agreement for the facility.GAO-26-108663, Sept. 24, 2026, p. 9

ClosedJune 2026All detainees had been transferred by June 18, 2026. The state’s other site, the “Deportation Depot” at Baker Correctional Institution, held about 1,000 people as of Oct. 15, 2026.AP via NPR, June 18; News Service of Florida, Oct. 15, 2026

Five numbers, five different measures

A contract ceiling is not a payment, an unpaid invoice is not a contract, and a grant award is not money received. Each figure below measures something different. They are never added together.

Grant ceiling · federal record$608.4MFEMA award to FloridaAwarded Sept. 30, 2025, for operating costs at $249 per detainee per day. GAO notes that rate is about 171% higher than ICE’s median of $92. The Baker site was later added at the same rate.GAO-26-108663, Sept. 24, 2026, p. 10

Money received · reported$134MPaid out from that grant so far“Just over $134 million has been dispersed from the grant according to USAspending.gov.” SignalData has not yet pulled the federal record directly.WPTV, Katie LaGrone, Oct. 8, 2026

Contract commitments · reported$1.4BCommitted to vendors statewideContracts for the state’s detention facilities and immigration operations since June 2025, including amendments. Nearly $630 million had been paid; about $812 million in balances remained. Statewide, not only this site.Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times review, via Governing, Sept. 8, 2026

Amount owed · reported$417MUnpaid invoices, 592 of themOutstanding invoices for Operation Vigil Sentry, the state’s immigration operation, in FDEM records shown to lawmakers. Statewide, not only this site. SignalData has not obtained the invoice schedule.WUSF, Meghan Bowman, Sept. 30, 2026

Spending · reported$218MSpent converting the airstripWhat the state spent to build the site, per its court filings, as of late August 2025. Officials had estimated operating costs at $450 million a year.AP via PBS, Aug. 28, 2025; AP via WUSF, July 22, 2025

The vendors

Contract figures as reported. Some cover several contracts or later amendments, and some cover statewide immigration work, not only this site. Where a newsroom cited the state’s contract system, that is noted.

Reported contract amounts, payments and balances
Vendor	Work	Contract (reported)	Paid / owed (reported)	Source
Critical Response Strategies	Jacksonville consulting firm	$78.5 million	More than $35 million owed (Sept. 2026)	AP, July 22, 2025; WUSF
Doodie Calls	Portable toilets and showers	$22 million at first; at least $219 million by June 2026	$96 million paid; $122 million remaining (June 2026)	AP; Florida Phoenix, June 17, 2026
IRG Global Emergency Management	Emergency management services (statewide immigration contracts)	About $112 million (June 2026)	More than $68 million owed (Sept. 2026)	Florida Phoenix; WUSF
GardaWorld	Security company	$78 million	Not reported	Florida Phoenix
Gothams	IT, access badges, wristbands	$21.1 million	Not reported	AP
Garner Environmental Services; SLSCO	Not stated in source	$19.7 million deals (AP)	Not reported	AP
GEO\|CDR Baker LLC (Baker site, not this one)	Staffing and medical, Deportation Depot	Maximum $101 million	About $32 million paid as of Sept. 22, 2026 (state contract system); nearly $40 million owed	News Service of Florida; WUSF

Reported figures conflict in places, partly because some counts include later contract amendments and others do not. SignalData will replace these with figures from the state’s contract system (FACTS) once pulled.

Some of these companies also gave in the 2026 races

From state campaign-finance records SignalData pulled. A contribution and a contract appearing side by side is not evidence that one caused the other.

IRG Global Emergency Management$278,040To Friends of Byron Donalds ($250,020), Friends of Blaise Ingoglia ($25,020) and James Uthmeier’s campaign ($3,000). Its parent, ARS, gave $105,020 more.

Critical Response Strategies$10,000To Friends of Byron Donalds, July 20, 2026.

GEO Group (GEO|CDR Baker partner)$3,568,000To Friends of Byron Donalds ($3.5 million), Uthmeier ($53,000) and Ingoglia ($15,000).

FL Division of Elections, through Oct. 9, 2026. Doodie Calls, GardaWorld, Gothams, Garner and SLSCO: not yet checked. Every figure, and every candidate including those who took nothing, is in the Detention File →

In court

Friends of the Everglades v. Noem (U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida). Judge Kathleen Williams ordered operations wound down in August 2025; the 11th Circuit paused that order days later, and on April 21, 2026, a divided panel ruled the facility was under state, not federal, control and did not need federal environmental review. AP via WUSF, April 22, 2026

What this page does not show

How spending splits between Alligator Alcatraz, the Baker site and other immigration operations. Most reported totals are statewide.
How much of the $608.4 million grant the federal government will ultimately pay.
Contract terms from the state’s own systems. Figures here are as reported by the newsrooms credited; SignalData is requesting the records.

Alligator Alcatraz:the money.