A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration fights a federal judge's order to shutter the facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by a late October deadline. That's according to an email exchange shared with The Associated Press. Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie says in an email to a South Florida rabbi on Aug. 22 in regard to providing spiritual care at the facility that "we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days."

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis dispatched his top deputy to California to oversee the handover of a truck driver accused of making an illegal U-turn that killed three people in Florida. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins' presence in Stockton, California, on Thursday underscores Republicans' push to crack down on illegal immigration. It also revs up a political rivalry between DeSantis and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Collins says the driver was in the country illegally from India and never should have been issued a driver's license. A Newsom spokesperson called Collins' trip a "photo op" and criticized Florida officials for letting the suspect leave Florida in the first place.

Lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades say that "Alligator Alcatraz" detainees have been barred from meeting attorneys. They also say that the detainees are being held without any charges and that federal immigration courts have canceled bond hearings. A virtual hearing in federal court in Miami was held Monday over the lawsuit. Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to detainees, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as Alligator Alcatraz began in the past few days. DeSantis said Friday that the flights operated by the Department of Homeland Security have transferred about 100 detainees from the immigration detention center to other countries. He expects that number to increase soon. Officials say two or three flights have happened, though they didn't say which countries those flights headed to. Critics have condemned the facility as cruel and inhumane, but DeSantis and other Republicans have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.