Miami-Dade County has taken back the remote Everglades airfield that Gov. Ron DeSantis seized in summer 2025 to build the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention camp, ending a state-versus-county standoff over nearly 24,000 acres of public land.
The county's Aviation Department confirmed the handback on Thursday, July 23, according to the Sun Sentinel. The Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport had served as a small-plane training strip before DeSantis invoked emergency powers, claiming a statewide immigration crisis justified taking control of the county-owned property.
Miami-Dade never challenged the seizure in court.
A $1 billion price tag draws scrutiny
DeSantis announced the detention facility's official closure at a June 25 press conference on site. "I have no doubt that when you start talking about 21,000 folks that without question has made our state safer and it's made the country safer as well," DeSantis said at that event, referring to the number of people his administration says were removed from the country through the program.
The project's price tag has drawn bipartisan scrutiny. Politico reported the total cost of assembling and dismantling the camp may have reached $1 billion. The federal government pledged more than $600 million in reimbursements, but as of mid-July most of that money had not been paid.
State Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Miami Republican who chairs the Senate budget panel handling criminal justice issues, told Politico on July 18 that the funds were "a missed opportunity."
The airfield's future remains unsettled
As of July 16, the state had not responded to Miami-Dade's efforts to repossess the property, according to Dianne Fernandez, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. One week later, the transfer was confirmed.
Fernandez told Politico on July 16 that any evaluation of the property's future, including existing infrastructure, would come only after the county assessed the site's environmental impacts and damage to the airfield.
Mayor Levine Cava has said she wants to pursue selling the land to the National Park Service. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who according to Politico originally conceived the Alligator Alcatraz plan and pitched it to the Trump administration, has said he would like the land to become a protected environmental area. Rodney Barreto, chair of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, has proposed buying the land from the county and donating surrounding acreage to the federal government for Everglades restoration.
A lawsuit and unanswered questions linger
Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe have an active lawsuit alleging the detention camp harmed the surrounding ecosystem and endangered species, including the Florida panther.
Aerial images from mid-July showed barely any traces of the detention facility remaining at the site, according to the Miami Herald. It remains unclear when the runway will be ready for small-plane operations again.
