A week after a federal judge ordered the state and federal governments to begin shutting down their operations at Alligator Alcatraz, workers are being sent packing and detainees are being moved to other facilities. Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a news conference in Orange County on Wednesday, said the Department of Homeland Security had “increased the pace of removals” from the detention facility.
DeSantis distanced the state from the decisions about who is detained at the site, saying “the state does not determine who goes into the facility.” “And so ultimately, it’s DHS’s decision, where they want to process and stage detainees, and it’s their decision about when they want to bring them out,” DeSantis said. “But I think they’ve been having rapid removals from Alligator Alcatraz, and I think that’s caused the census to go down,” he told reporters.
Reminder that Desantis takes kick-backs and is a money launderer from Medicaid through his wife’s charity.
As DeSantis administration officials scrambled last year to craft a Medicaid overbilling settlement that diverted millions to the Hope Florida Foundation, lawyers for healthcare contractor Centene and the Florida Attorney General’s Office tried to distance their clients from the agreement, a trove of newly released records shows.
Over 22 days in September, then-Chief Deputy Attorney General John Guard repeatedly removed references to his office in drafts of the settlement passed among negotiators.
Centene’s lawyers inserted language emphasizing that the company was “directed by the state” to donate $10 million of its $67 million settlement to the foundation. The attorneys insisted that Florida’s Office of Inspector General or attorney general be mentioned in the agreement.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article311619075.html (look up Florida Hope scandal and there’s tons more)
Hope Florida charity paid for hotel rooms, perks for DeSantis officials
It wasn’t the first time the Hope Florida Foundation, which benefits a program spearheaded by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, has failed to file key paperwork. In April, its board president told state lawmakers that the charity had not filed any tax returns, created a budget or conducted audits required by law.
The charity is under investigation after diverting $10 million from a settlement with the state’s largest Medicaid contractor to a pair of nonprofits that then gave millions to a political committee.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article308664570.html
There’s got to be something else at play here. No way DHS or Desantis would just voluntarily roll over for a court order.
My question is where are the “other facilities” these political prisoners are getting moved to? CECOT? Uganda? Guantanamo? Another copy of this concentration camp just over the state line?
To paraphrase what someone else commented: “What’s the catch?”. These fucking shitheads haven’t been rolling over just because a judge says so.
Unless these people aren’t returned to their families I’m not sure how much we should celebrate.
