Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) reportedly left county officials in the dark when he decided to create the 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant detention facility in Southwest Florida, according to The Associated Press.
President Donald Trump toured the makeshift detention center comprised largely of FEMA tents and trailers earlier this month, claiming it would "house some of the menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
AP obtained more than 100 emails revealing that "local officials were blindsided by the plans" for Collier County, "a wealthy, majority-Republican corner of the state that’s home to white-sand beaches and the western stretch of the Everglades."
As county officials tried to "chase down a 'rumor' about the governor's plans, "state officials were already on the ground," getting the facility ready for the president's visit, the report said.
The confusion underscored "the breakneck speed at which the governor’s team built the facility" to hold thousands of detainees, according to the report.
In addition, the report said that DeSantis relied on an "executive order to seize the land, hire contractors and bypass laws and regulations."
The executive order "granted the state sweeping authority to suspend 'any statute, rule or order' seen as slowing the response to the immigration 'emergency,'" the report said.
"Allowing the state to seize county-owned land and evade rules" is being denounced by critics as an "abuse of power."