NEW YORK, May 8. /TASS/. The US administration is considering closing the Alligator Alcatraz detention center for undocumented migrants, named after the famous prison, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters.

"It’s been discussed. <...> We’re getting it (the closure - TASS), and you will see that very shortly," the Miami Herald newspaper quoted him as saying.

DeSantis noted that new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has "taken a fresh look" at the situation with the detention center, hence the policy shift. The newspaper empasizes that the willingness of the Florida administration and the US federal government to abandon the prison marks a sharp shift in their position. Previously, the authorities had promoted the center as a model for combating illegal immigration. The state of Florida spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal proceedings to challenge attempts to close the prison.

Earlier, The New York Times reported, citing sources, that state and federal authorities are discussing the closure of the detention center, but these talks are still in the preliminary stages. The US Department of Homeland Security has concluded that maintaining the facility is too costly, and the agency also considers it ineffective. The Florida administration spends more than $1 million a day to operate the center.

Opened in the summer of 2025, the detention center, according to US President Donald Trump, was supposed to serve as a model for a series of future facilities for holding undocumented migrants. The surrounding area consists of marshlands inhabited by numerous alligators, crocodiles, and venomous snakes.

Construction of the center sparked criticism from US Democratic Party representatives and human rights organizations who argue that the facility's harsh conditions violate immigrants' rights. A group of Democratic senators and members of the US House of Representatives demanded that the authorities disclose information about the facility’s operations, suspecting that its activities violate the law.