The notorious Florida immigrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” may be winding down operations soon, Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged on Thursday. His remarks came just hours after the New York Times reported that federal and state officials are in preliminary discussions about the facility’s closure.

The DeSantis administration erected the makeshift detention camp in the Everglades last summer when the Department of Homeland Security needed more detention space to house immigrants pending their deportations. “This is going to be a force multiplier, and we’re really happy to be working with the federal government to satisfy President Trump’s mandate,” DeSantis said last summer. The detention facility has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s relentless crackdown on immigrants.

At a press conference in Lakeland, Florida, DeSantis said that Alligator Alcatraz has held nearly 22,000 immigrants who were eventually deported. “I have no doubt that that has made the state of Florida safer,” he said. “We stepped up when no other state stepped up to help in a very big way.” He added that Alligator Alcatraz was........

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