00:00We've seen criminal aliens time and time again offending across the United States,
00:04including in Florida, and those are crimes that would not have been able to be committed
00:09had the immigration laws been enforced.
00:11We also had a responsibility to protect all the taxpayer issues involving schools and health care
00:21and the criminal justice system where illegal immigration obviously imposes a very, very hefty burden
00:27all across the United States, but including in the state of Florida.
00:31So we have acted and really set the standard.
00:35As of today, if you look at all 287G arrests, immigration arrests around the country,
00:4440% of them are Florida.
00:47Of the entire country, we have 40% of them.
00:50No state has stepped up, not even close, the way Florida has to be able to get the job done.
00:55So this relationship was very strong in the early going.
01:01And Florida, for whatever reason, had very small number of beds for DHS.
01:06And so they asked us to be able to help with that.
01:09And so the advent of the facility here at Alligator Alcatraz was we did not want to see illegal aliens,
01:18particularly the ones that were being targeted in these stings that have serious records.
01:22We didn't want to be in a situation where they're being released back on the street
01:26because there's not sufficient bed space for DHS or bed space in Florida's existing facilities.
01:33And so the advent of this was this was an emergency situation.
01:39The reconciliation, they didn't have the funding that they eventually got when they did the reconciliation bill.
01:44We wanted to make it so that you would be able to have this be temporary.
01:49Hopefully they'd be here as small number of time, as small amount of time as possible.
01:54And then you have the runway right back here.
01:56Then they can be flied out, presumably to their home countries or staged to be able to make that happen.
02:03And it required a lot of logistical know-how, a lot of wherewithal.
02:09I think that once the word went down that this was something that DHS wanted to see done,
02:16you know, I think it took us, I mean, Kevin Guthrie could tell me,
02:19I think it took us like less than two weeks, 10 days to be able to be ready to go.
02:24And that was something that's not easy.
02:27So as of now, this facility having this has led to almost 21,000 deportations.
02:38And those would be people, by and large, who would have been released back into society in Florida
02:44had this space not been there.
02:46Now, but at the same time, you know, I said from the beginning that this was a emergency solution
02:52that would be temporary, that once DHS had the wherewithal to be able to handle these illegal aliens,
03:00particularly the criminal illegal aliens, that they would be able to do so.
03:04And we would still help.
03:06We'll still do the 287G.
03:07We're still going to be participating in that.
03:09But in terms of us managing this facility to the minute that that's no longer needed,
03:16then we obviously would break down to the facility.
03:19And so Alligator Alcatraz fulfilled the role that it was designed to serve.
03:25Today, it now has zero detainees.
03:28It has helped remove many, many dangerous people from the street
03:33and get them out of not only the state of Florida, but the United States of America.
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