In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration center christened "Alligator Alcatraz,” modeled after the state’s frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans.

A federal court filing casts doubt on the Trump administration’s claims that the federal government would pick up the tab for “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The first group of immigrants were scheduled to arrive Wednesday night at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state's attorney general said.