The answer could play a key role in a legal battle over the facility’s fate. And it has bigger implications, too.

A group of congressional Democrats is pushing officials at the DHS for more information about the use of the immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz."

Orlando Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost delivered sharp criticism of the site, describing it as "inhumane" and calling for it to be shut down.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost held a press conference outside the Everglades detention center in Florida dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” ahead of a state-approved tour of the facility.

Democratic lawmakers are seeking more information from the Department of Homeland Security about the Trump administration’s partnership with Florida to create a migrant detention facility in

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent against escape, much like the island prison in California that Republicans named it after. The detention center has an estimated annual cost of $450 million, according to a public database.

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, has announced plans for a second new migrant detention centre for his state nicknamed “deportation depot” following the opening of “Alligator Alcatraz”.

Court ruling stops new infrastructure capacity at Florida's Alligator Alcatraz detention facility but permits continued housing of existing migrant detainees.

Although a federal judge in Miami ordered their case be moved to another Florida district, the ACLU and other plaintiffs suing the controversial migrant detention facility over access to attorneys insist they'll win the litigation - and that they have already been handed "an important victory.