Serious question

[malaise]

Top Florida official says ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ will likely be empty within days, email shows

https://apnews.com/article/florida-immigration-detention-center-desantis-alligator-alcatraz-f36fd04c18635eb7938a9ec26a31e92e

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-guantanamo-detain-foreigners-from-26-countries/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-rethinking-guantanamo-immigrant-detention-plan-rcna194274

What did these cost tax payers?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Billions. Premiums for rush jobs. Remote locations. Padded expense accounts. Inflated billing. Corruption . . . . nt

[democratsruletheday]

4. Correct Bernardo...

all part of the grift. Millions has already been stolen. NEXT..........

[PJMcK]

2. The cost was far more than the cash Trump wasted

By building a concentration camp, Trump further diminished America’s standing and position in the world.

Trump’s Nazi-Nation building has destroyed nearly 100 years of American progress and leadership in the world. This one insanely stupid and vindictive man is creating a new disgusting, small nation built out of ignorance and hatred.

The dollars spent don’t even really matter.

[Heidi]

3. A couple of links

Trump migrant detentions at Guantanamo Bay cost $100,000 per person daily, senator says
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's use of the Guantanamo Bay naval base to house migrants appears to cost $100,000 per day for each detainee, U.S. Senator Gary Peters said during a hearing on Tuesday, decrying what he described as a prime example of wasteful government spending.

Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the high cost, far more than the $165 per day in U.S. immigration detention facilities. Peters also asked why detainees have been sent to the American naval base in Cuba but then shuttled back to the United States at taxpayer expense.
>

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were roughly 70 migrants currently detained there.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-migrant-detentions-guantanamo-bay-cost-100000-per-person-daily-senator-2025-05-20/

‘Alligator Alcatraz’: What to know about Florida’s new controversial migrant detention facility
The facility has the capacity to house up to 3,000 migrants, with the ability to add more, a Florida Division of Emergency Management official said.

>

“Alligator Alcatraz” is expected to cost $450 million to operate for a single year, according to one DHS official who told CNN Florida will front the costs of the facility and then “submit reimbursement requests” through FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/01/us/what-is-alligator-alcatraz-florida

[malaise]

5. Thanks for these links

Important

Rec

[Heidi]

6. Seems to me it's a staggering amount of money and the amount is very likely underreported.

When trying to figure out all of the costs associated with this mass brutalization of migrants, we shouldn't forget about local law enforcement centers housing detainees under federal contracts. My experience is that many law local enforcement officials sold voters/taxpayers a fear-based bill of goods in the 1990s and early 2000s; when they can't keep those jails full of locals (and I have every confidence that an empty, brand-spankin' new jail is motivation to arrest and jail folks), they welcomed federal prisoners and are paid a considerably higher daily rate per federal prisoner.

The U.S. built a staggering number of prisons in the 90s and 00s.

A new prison every 10 days for 15 years. That number sounds impossible. But a Congressional report entitled Economic Impacts of Prison Growth confirms the data. The report states, “The number of state and federal adult correction facilities rose from 1,277 in 1990 to 1,821 in 2005, a 43% increase.”

That means that during that 15-year span, 544 new correctional facilities were built. There are 5475 days in 15 years. If you divide the number of days by the number of facilities built, you end up with almost exactly a facility built every 10 days.

So why were so many prisons built during this time period? The short answer is to house an exponentially growing number of incarcerated people. In 1990, there were 771,243 people in state and federal prisons. By 2005, that number had climbed to 1,446,269. Those figures do not include the number of incarcerated people in jails at that time.
https://interrogatingjustice.org/ending-mass-incarceration/prison-every-10-days/

[malaise]

7. This is seriously frightening stuff

- The business of incarceration.