DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be housed at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of downtown Jacksonville. It is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.

The Florida Highway Patrol, alongside federal ICE Partners, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, launched the first-of-its-kind Panhandle Immigration Enforcement Operation.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday blocking Florida from further expanding the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center.