TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida has spent nearly $600 million on immigration enforcement activities ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis in the past three years, as well as nearly $150 million on missions to help Americans who were stranded in Israel and Haiti, according to a new report.
The spending totals were included in the report Florida’s Division of Emergency Management turned over to the Legislature on Saturday — roughly two weeks past the deadline required under a new state law — and represents one of the few times the DeSantis administration has provided detailed funding figures on efforts put in motion by the governor.
DeSantis has used his emergency powers to embark on efforts that go beyond responding to natural disasters. He declared a state of emergency on immigration back in early 2023 — one that remains in place and has been repeatedly renewed. The governor and his administration have relied on these emergency powers to establish immigration detention centers in the Everglades and in northeast Florida.
During these declared emergencies, Florida does not have to follow normal procurement rules.
The DEM report shows that $573 million has been spent on “Operation Vigilant Sentry,” including more than $484 million on “projects” related to the effort. It does not, however, give any detailed information on contracts and instead only lists $29 million of inventory that has been purchased, with items including radios, helicopter engines, vans and trailers.
Although the state is expected to be reimbursed for its immigration work by the federal government, the report indicates that it has yet to receive any of the more than $600 million promised to Florida.
A spokesperson for the Division of Emergency Management did not respond to questions about the report.
DeSantis has repeatedly slammed the media for raising questions about whether the state was going to get reimbursed for Alligator Alcatraz, which the report calls the “South Florida Detention Facility.” The decision to repurpose an air landing strip as a means to detain people has created waves of controversy and legal challenges.
The 15-page report includes short summaries of various activities — ranging from work done on various storms, including powerful hurricanes such as Hurricane Ian — as well as times the state’s emergency operations center was activated. The EOC, for example, was activated during the “No Kings Day” protests that occurred around the state in June 2025.
The report includes a spreadsheet that totals $6.54 billion and breaks out the amount spent on individual emergency declarations. Some of the largest amounts were associated with storms such as Ian.
But the report also states that efforts to help people evacuate from Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and again in June 2025 cost nearly $95 million. The state wound up flying more than 700 Americans from Israel to Florida and spent more than $44 million on humanitarian help for those in Haiti.
State Sen. Nick DiCeglie, the sponsor of the bill that required the report, said he was still “combing” through the details of what the administration provided but stressed that the goal behind the report was to provide a “little more transparency” about Florida’s spending on emergencies.
One state senator — Sen. Jason Pizzo, an independent from South Florida — used an expletive in a text when told the amount that has been spent on the immigration enforcement operations. Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman simply said, “Wow,” when asked about the $573 million spent.
The timing of the report comes just a couple of days before a Senate panel is scheduled to take up a bill that would keep intact the trust fund created at DeSantis’ urging so he could more easily to tap into money needed for emergencies.
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