“We’re grieving great loss of biodiversity”: DeSantis’s spending puts Everglades at risk

By Nancy Huang

Florida’s emergency fund was originally designed to help communities recover from hurricanes and floods. Today it sits at the center of a political and moral backlash as Gov. Ron DeSantis spends nearly $600 million on immigration enforcement and a massive Everglades detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The fund, created in 2022 for disaster relief, has used at least $573 million on immigration-related spending since DeSantis declared a state of emergency over the border in early 2023- a declaration he has repeatedly renewed.

Federal officials have approved up to $608 million in related grants, but federal reimbursements for the Everglades remain on hold pending environmental review, according to Florida Division of Emergency Management records.

State officials defended the spending as necessary for public safety.

“One of the most significant challenges impacting communities across the country is the crisis of illegal immigration, and emergency managers cannot ignore its effects,” said Stephanie Hartman, communications director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “This work does not diminish Florida’s ability to prepare for disasters. Florida continues to lead the nation in emergency management, with strong capabilities, resources and infrastructure in place to respond to any incident.”

Priorities in the government have shifted. Critics say the shift undercuts hurricane readiness, damages a fragile ecosystem and deepens fear toward immigrants rather than supporting their path into residency.

Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando, said the spending reveals deeper problems with state priorities.

“What we’re seeing is the politicization of disaster money. This emergency fund was meant to respond to hurricanes and climate crises, not to bankroll detention centers or political stunts,” she said. “We have a state government that is distracted by political partisanship, culture wars and then misappropriates and mispends hundreds of millions of dollars to pursue that political agenda. We may be holding the bag for all these hundreds of millions of dollars that are being spent under an outdated executive order that should no longer be active today.”

The emergency fund allows the governor to spend money directly on “emergency responses” without legislative approval. Eskamani said the House initially sought to limit how those dollars could be used, but later softened its position after pushback from DeSantis and his allies.

Eskamani said Democrats opposed the bill that created what she calls a “slush fund” and proposed limiting the money to natural disasters. The proposal was denied by the majority of the House.

She noted that one of the governor’s first uses of the account was transporting migrants from the southern border to Martha’s Vineyard, followed by contracts and construction for detention facilities in the Everglades and Baker County.

“In totality, he has spent upwards of $4 billion on giving no-bid contracts to his friends, on opening up the Everglades camp and a separate detention facility in Baker, and he wants to open up more,” she said. “This has gotten totally out of control. It needs to stop.”

The Everglades detention complex, built on a former airfield in South Florida, has become the symbol of the fund’s controversial shift. Environmental groups and local advocates say the project threatens one of the world’s most unique wetlands and was green-lit without proper transparency.

Eskamani, who has visited the site as a witness in litigation brought by Friends of the Everglades, described “new asphalt” roads and parking lots, bright lights and constant vehicle traffic cutting into the protected landscape.

“They literally created physical infrastructure in the environment,” she said. “You have serious light pollution. You are disrupting migration patterns of species who live in the Everglades. The density and traffic of human bodies and materials has environmental impact as well.”

Eskamani added that the location is prone to flooding and wildfires and questioned evacuation plans if a major blaze or storm hits.

“We’re wasting money that should be set aside and reserved for hurricane preparedness on this,” she said.

At Flagler College in St. Augustine, where tidal flooding and hurricanes are familiar threats, political science professor Brenda Kauffman said using emergency money for detention instead of disaster preparation is an “unwise” policy that sends a disturbing message.

“In a state like Florida, where we have a lot of natural disasters, we should always be prepared for those, and diverting those funds for anything other than that preparedness I think is unwise,” Kauffman said. “I don’t think that’s very smart or strategic policy decision making.”

She described the detention complex as part of a broader pattern of habitat loss and overdevelopment.

“Florida is on its way to becoming completely paved. The Everglades, one of Earth’s most unique ecosystems, treated with such disregard, is a grotesque violation with no moral or ethical consideration,” Kauffman said. “Quite frankly, we’re grieving great loss of biodiversity in this world.”

Rachel Cremona, dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and an associate professor of political science and international studies at Flagler, also condemned the spending.

“It’s very clear we need that money in reserve, given what’s happened to Florida,” Cremona said. “We didn’t have a hurricane this last year, but it’s become a pattern and they’ve been devastating.”

Cremona, who has lived in Florida for more than 20 years, said the detention push ignores immigrants’ contributions to the state’s labor force and economy.

“I think it’s true nationally, but it’s very true in Florida that immigrants, supposedly legal and illegal, contribute enormously to our economy,” she said. “They do jobs that most Americans are never going to do. They’re serving a role in our economy, and they’re not coming here to scrounge off our welfare system. They’re coming here because they need money.”

Calling “Alligator Alcatraz” and related crackdowns “disgusting politically,” Cremona argued that leaders such as DeSantis use immigrants as scapegoats.

“I’m not opposed to having restrictions on your borders,” she said. “But this kind of deliberate targeting is offensive to me.”

Cremona said she believes many moderate voters did not expect the policies to go this far and may reconsider their support.

The emergency fund dispute plays out against a backdrop of rising living costs, property insurance crises and recurring storms. A state report found Florida spent more than $573 million from the account on immigration enforcement between 2023 and 2025, including two state-run detention facilities.

“If there were to be a large-scale storm that hits, it has the potential of just slowing us down when it comes to preparing and responding,” Eskamani said. “We’re in an ecosystem where we can’t rely on the federal government anymore. We have to be able to pay things for ourselves. The more we waste money, the less we have for these natural disasters.”

She said families across her district continue to struggle with high property insurance, and some have dropped coverage entirely.

“We are always having to prepare for natural disasters,” she said. “The cost of insurance impacts everyone.”

Cremona, who said she once lost a vehicle to floodwater in downtown St. Augustine, warned that depleted reserves will leave communities exposed if another storm like Hurricane Matthew, strikes.

“If there’s another Matthew in the next year or two that causes hundreds of millions of dollars of damage, what do we do?” she said. “Nobody’s going to look back and say, ‘Well, we don’t have money to rebuild after a hurricane, but we spent it on something good.’ Even the people that support him now are going to be mad when this happens.”

Beyond policy debates, Kauffman and Cremona urged Floridians to engage in local politics.

Kauffman criticized weak accountability for county commissioners and state leaders who have allowed overdevelopment and limited local environmental control.

“The people of the state are not holding our leaders accountable,” she said. “We can no longer afford to say things like, ‘I don’t really care about politics, I’m just not into it.’ It is everything – the air you breathe, the water you drink.”

Kauffman gave some advice.

“Pay attention to local politics. Get involved in your community. The more you do locally – join groups, volunteer – the more we can build a better world,” she said.

Eskamani said budget talks continue now in Tallahassee.

“Contact your representative and state senator,” she said.

Kauffman warned that inaction would carry a high cost.

“We will have ourselves to ultimately blame because we didn’t do the work of standing up and fighting back, holding people accountable and electing the right leaders,” she said.