CAMP BLANDING – Construction began last week on a detention center for as many as 2,000 undocumented migrants at Camp Blanding, which triggered a reaction by those contesting immigration roundups. …
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CAMP BLANDING – Construction began last week on a detention center for as many as 2,000 undocumented migrants at Camp Blanding, which triggered a reaction by those contesting immigration roundups.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the addition of the U.S. Army National Guard training center on Tuesday, July 1, during an inspection by President Donald Trump at an airstrip in the Everglades.
While work is being completed on the secured post, protesters said they will be at the front gates on July 19 at 3 p.m. to argue against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s roundup of illegal migrants and the detention center.
Immigrant rights advocates, organized by the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, protested at the Duval County Courthouse on Friday, July 11.
The fight against the training center in Clay County comes after the state opened another detention center in the Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz."
According to the governor’s office, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has drafted and submitted to the U.S. DHS a plan (the State immigration Enforcement Operations Plan) for Florida to further assist in the detention, processing and deportation of illegal immigrants.
FDEM will utilize Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport for the detention of illegal aliens who are subject to ICE detainers or have final orders to be deported from the country. This is an existing airstrip that is already built and paved. U.S. DHS has approved this plan and indicated Florida is eligible for funding via reimbursement.
Camp Blanding is a 73,000-acre post. It was a central U.S. Army training facility during the Second World War, and it was initially established as a state-owned training reservation in 1939 for the Florida National Guard. However, as World War II approached, the mobilization of reserve forces and the rapid expansion of the entire U.S. Army required Camp Blanding to be converted to a federal reservation. It was subsequently enlarged to house two complete infantry divisions along with many separate units.
