{"id":5234,"date":"2026-06-24T18:05:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T18:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5234"},"modified":"2026-06-24T18:05:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T18:05:23","slug":"maxwell-even-as-its-abandoned-boondoggle-alcatraz-may-cost-taxpayers-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5234","title":{"rendered":"Maxwell: Even as it\u2019s abandoned, boondoggle \u2018Alcatraz\u2019 may cost taxpayers more"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today, we have items on the return of Matt Gaetz, some odd choices for a time capsule and more debate-dodging in Florida.<\/p>\n

Read more Taco Bell launches emotional support game for World Cup fans<\/a><\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s look at the latest developments in what increasingly looks like one of the biggest boondoggles taxpayers have ever financed in Florida \u2014 \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/p>\n

We already know this hastily assembled, short-lived endeavor cost taxpayers $1 billion, according to multiple estimates, with much of the money doled out in no-bid contracts to firms with political connections. (The contract for just one porta-potty company, \u201cDoodie Calls,\u201d was originally estimated at $92 million.)<\/p>\n

But the story and spending don\u2019t end there.<\/p>\n

Now that the feds say they\u2019re emptying out this $1 million-a-day facility, it\u2019s worth noting why<\/em> they say they\u2019re doing so and how shuttering the facility may cost taxpayers even more.<\/p>\n

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New reports show Florida gave $92 million to a single porta-potty company involved with ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’<\/p>\n

Yet the state has yet to produce a single audit \u2013 audits required by law \u2013 about all this “emergency” spending.https:\/\/t.co\/tFq1tc1pfX<\/p>\n

\u2014 Scott Maxwell (@Scott_Maxwell) February 17, 2026<\/p>\n

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First, there\u2019s the new rationale. While the exorbitant cost was widely reported as a big reason, a spokesperson for ICE told the Florida Phoenix and Fox News that another reason was the risk of impending hurricanes.<\/p>\n

Specifically, ICE said it wanted to remove detainees from the \u201csoft-sided facility,\u201d saying: \u201cFor the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, they admitted what virtually everybody with a working brain said long before the state started dumping money into this popsicle-stick installation \u2014 that trying to build a temporary prison out of tents and cages in hurricane country was a spectacularly dumb idea.<\/p>\n

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Yet the boondoggling doesn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n

CBS Miami reported this week that vendors, who are being told to pack it up, may get extra money for doing so. Specifically, the station cited a provision in their contracts that \u201callows the companies to charge the state a \u2018demobilization fee\u2019 that will likely run into tens of millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, putting an end to this financial fiasco may cost taxpayers even more.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice Florida\u2019s tough-talking CFO, Blaise Ingoglia, isn\u2019t saying squat about any of this. He and his office have refused to answer questions about audits for any of the \u201cemergency\u201d immigration spending that I started posing last year. And WKMG recently reported that when their viewers started asking \u201cWhat about Alligator Alcatraz?\u201d his office deflected, saying it had \u201cfull confidence in the Trump Administration\u2019s financial review of Alligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently, Blaise is too busy screaming about a $6,000 annual stipend for Orlando\u2019s poet laureate to focus on $1 billion being blown on no-bid contracts down in the Everglades.<\/p>\n

Remember: The Sentinel revealed that the state hasn\u2019t yet produced a single audit on all this \u201cemergency\u201d immigration spending \u2014 audits that state statutes say are required.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re missing both audits and competitively bid contracts while reading one report after another about bloated spending. Gee, you think there might be a connection?<\/p>\n

Read more UCF position preview: Running back<\/a><\/p>\n

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Florida auditor general failed to review illegal immigration expenditures<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n