OCHOPEE, United States (AFP)—The controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention centre — a costly Florida facility that became a symbol of United States (US) President Donald Trump’s deportation drive — has shut down after less than a year in operation, officials said Thursday.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, appearing at the remote Everglades site with White House border czar Tom Homan, said the facility no longer held any detainees and had fulfilled the emergency role it was built to serve.

The facility drew fierce criticism from lawyers, families, civil rights groups and human rights advocates, who accused the government of holding detainees in harsh conditions and denying them meaningful due process.