The answer could play a key role in a legal battle over the facility’s fate. And it has bigger implications, too.

A group of congressional Democrats is pushing officials at the DHS for more information about the use of the immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz."

A month into his detention at Alligator Alcatraz, Daniel Ortiz Piñeda faced a stark choice: continue his legal fight for asylum or give it up to hopefully put an end to his extended stay at the makeshift immigration detention camp in the Everglades.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent against escape, much like the island prison in California that Republicans named it after. The detention center has an estimated annual cost of $450 million, according to a public database.