Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the state will open a second, state-run immigration detention center at the shuttered Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, about 45 miles west of Jacksonville. The repurposed prison, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” is intended to augment the tent-and-trailer complex in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” which began taking detainees in July. State emergency-management officials estimate the Baker site can initially hold more than 1,300 undocumented migrants and could be expanded to 2,000 beds. Converting the existing prison is projected to cost roughly $6 million—far below earlier estimates for an alternative site at Camp Blanding—and DeSantis expects the facility to be operational within two to three weeks. The Florida National Guard and private contractors will staff the center, and deportation flights are expected to use nearby Lake City Gateway Airport. Florida plans to seek reimbursement for the project from the Department of Homeland Security and is pursuing a separate $605 million federal grant to offset broader immigration-enforcement expenses. State officials say the approach mirrors an agreement under which Washington already reimburses costs at Alligator Alcatraz, whose rapid build-out cost about $250 million and is budgeted at roughly $450 million a year to operate 5,000 combined detention beds. The expansion comes as a federal judge weighs lawsuits challenging environmental impacts and detention conditions at the Everglades site; last week the court imposed a 14-day pause on further construction there while allowing operations to continue. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has called Florida’s state-run model a template for other states, but civil-rights groups argue the network risks entrenching poor conditions and limited legal access for detainees.