An inside look at Alligator Alcatraz, Florida's immigration detention center.

A federal judge has ordered the closure and dismantlement of the South Florida Detention Facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, the federal migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades that opened July 3 and is capable of holding 3,000 or more inmates.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave federal and state governments 60 days to end operations at the mass detention center in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve on Aug. 21, USA TODAY reported. The center will remain open but construction must be halted and no new detainees may be brought in.

Florida officials appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Alligator Alcatraz was built in eight days – and may serve as a blueprint for similar sites elsewhere. Florida plans to open a second site at the Baker Correctional Institution in northwest Florida, dubbed the "Deportation Depot."

USA TODAY reviewed the construction, cost, size, and capacity of Alligator Alcatraz – as well as the political and environmental objections to it – to determine what other states may expect. Here is what we found.

Where is Alligator Alcatraz located?

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At least five Republican-led states are reportedly in talks with the Department of Homeland Security to develop their own migrant detention facilities, based on Alligator Alcatraz, Reuters has reported.

"We've had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told a Florida news conference on July 12.

The compound is located on 39 square acres at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airfield with a single 10,500-ft. runway in Ochopee, Florida, in Collier County, USA TODAY reported. Operating costs are estimated at $450 million annually.

It’s owned by Miami-Dade County and operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. For a time it was used for flight training. It's located in Big Cypress National Preserve, next to the Everglades National Park, and is about 75 miles west of Miami.

The airport, once planned as the largest in the world, was built in 1968 and was originally known as the Everglades Jetport, according to the National Park Service. Construction ended in 1970 over environmental concerns.

The site is now "an old, virtually abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades," said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.

"The perimeter's already set by mother nature," Uthmeier said. "A lot of people thought maybe it was just a joke, but we're serious."

Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida has sought bids to build a similar detainment center at the Baker Correctional Institution.

Why do they call it 'Alligator Alcatraz'?

It began as a nickname, but Florida officials are calling the detention center Alligator Alcatraz, though its official name is still the South Florida Detention Facility. It's meant as a connection to the infamous Alcatraz maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay and the fact that Florida has 1.3 million alligators.

It also has Burmese pythons.

In a video introducing Alligator Alcatraz, Uthmeier said, "You don't need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons."

However, people do live nearby, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress. There are also several ceremonial grounds, burial grounds and gathering sites within the preserve.

The detention center is a 20-minute drive from the Miccosukee reservation and less than 100 yards away from a village of the Panther Clan of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

How many inmates does it hold?

The detention center is designed to hold 3,000 people, but plans call for expansion in 500-bed increments until it has a total capacity of 5,000.

To monitor inmates, the center will have, according to PBS:

  • 400 security personnel.
  • 200 security cameras.
  • 28,000 feet or more of barbed wire.

At least 70 members of the Florida National Guard have been assigned to the detention center.

How was the Alligator Alcatraz built?

It took eight days to build the facility, which is a series of bunk beds inside wire fence enclosures inside FEMA-type canvas tents.

Who operates Alligator Alcatraz?

Miami-Dade County owned the site, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used emergency powers to take control of the airport in June.

The governor's office said state officials offered to buy the lot from Miami-Dade County, but Mayor Daniella Levine Cava responded with an "unreasonable" request of $190 million.

While the state of Florida will operate the center, its facilities will in large part be funded by FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, said Noem in a statement shared with USA TODAY.

However, a U.S. district judge in Miami asked state and federal officials for documents showing "who's running the show" at the detention center on July 28. U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz sought clarification after a hearing in which accusations were made that defendants were denied due process.

What is the political opposition?

Environmentalists and leaders of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida have criticized the detention center's construction.

The Seminole Tribe, the largest federally recognized tribe in Florida, opposes the detention center as a threat to sacred lands.

Leaders say it will affect the environment of indigenous homelands and nearby villages, where tribal members live, hunt, fish, gather and pray.

CONTRIBUTING Ana Goni-Lessan, Cheryl McCloud, C.A.Bridges, Naples Daily News; Melina Khan, Chad Gillis, USA TODAY

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; National Park Service; Everglades Foundation

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Alligator Alcatraz close? Here's a look inside the controversial detention center

Reporting by Jennifer Borresen, Janet Loehrke, Stephen J. Beard, Shawn J. Sullivan and George Petras, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect