Trump's DOJ is holding up $608M reimbursement for Florida's immigration campaign

Lawrence Mower and Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald on Feb 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is keeping Florida from recouping $608 million in taxpayer funds to pay for the Alligator Alcatraz detention center and other immigration-enforcement activities, the state’s emergency management director said Thursday.

Director Kevin Guthrie told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had approved Florida’s request for the entirety of a fund dangled to “non-federal entities” to create temporary immigration detention facilities. But the agency recently emailed Florida stating that the Department of Justice had “held up” the payment for undisclosed reasons.

“I don’t know why they’re holding that up,” Guthrie said. “But they said to stand by.”

He said he had not spoken to anyone from the Department of Justice, and that FEMA said it disagreed with the decision. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Guthrie did not immediately provide FEMA’s email.

The statements add further mystery about why Florida hasn’t been reimbursed by the federal government for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ immigration crackdown, including the creation of Alligator Alcrataz, the rapidly built tent-and-trailer detention center in the Everglades.

Florida’s $608 million grant request was initially approved in September. Guthrie said Thursday that FEMA twice wanted to amend it, and it was finally awarded in December. He said the department also requested an additional $250 million in April.

The revelations came after two hours of questioning by a Senate budget committee looking to reauthorize DeSantis’ emergency response fund, created by the Legislature in 2022 to help him quickly respond to emergencies. DeSantis has used it to fund the state’s storm response, but also to pay for his immigration enforcement efforts. The governor declared an immigration-related state of emergency in 2023 and has repeatedly renewed it.

Florida has so far spent $573 million from the fund on immigration, according to a report released by Guthrie’s department on Saturday. The spending included buying high-tech cameras, hundreds of radios and financing Alligator Alcatraz. None of it has been reimbursed by the federal government, and lawmakers sounded skeptical about the chances on Thursday.

“I don’t trust FEMA to do it,” said Sen. Ed Hooper, a Clearwater Republican who leads the Senate budget committee. “I hope they do what’s right.”

The committee on Thursday passed along party lines SB 7040, which would reauthorize the emergency fund through 2027. It’s set to expire in less than two weeks. Without renewal, Guthrie said that Florida would revert to what DeSantis and past governors did — spend at a deficit and ask the Legislature for the money.

The House has yet to advance its version of the emergency fund extension, HB 941. Hooper told reporters on Tuesday that he has not spoken to House lawmakers or DeSantis about the measure.

Until Saturday’s report — released more than two weeks after it was due — the DeSantis administration had never detailed how it spent the $4.7 billion lawmakers have allocated to the fund. The administration has also repeatedly stonewalled journalists’ public records requests for contracts and other details of its spending.

Florida’s Division of Emergency Management has actually spent $1.8 billion more than that, Guthrie told senators. He said the division has been taking reimbursements and putting them back in the fund, rather than giving the money back to the Legislature to appropriate.

Democrats said the fund needed more guardrails and oversight before they could vote for it.

“The governor deserves some latitude in preparing and responding to emergencies, but the people deserve accountability,” said Sen. Darryl Rouson, a Tampa Democrat.

Sen. Tina Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat, said she didn’t object to how the vast majority of the money has been spent.

“I don’t think the rest of us would have a problem if this fund was limited to natural disasters or other kinds of true emergencies,” she said.

Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat-turned-independent who represents parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, sharply criticized the DeSantis administration’s priorities before ultimately voting for the bill.

“The families in my district are more important than illegal immigrants,” Pizzo said. “Yet, we find and spend money on illegal immigrants and not on the families in my district who suffer flooding and catastrophe.”