President Donald Trump has toured a new migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and hailed it as ‘beautiful’ and ‘so secure’.
Trump on Tuesday visited the makeshift facility at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee which received federal approval last week to house thousands of undocumented immigrants.
The president said that ‘some of the most vicious people on the planet’ will be held at the detention center, which takes its name from the alligator-filled environment and the notorious former maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island in California.
‘We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation,’ said Trump, while walking around the outside and inside of the facility that had bunk beds behind chain link fencing.
‘Worst of the worst always first and I think it’s great government what we’ve done.’
Trump was accompanied by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who issued a warning to migrants.
‘They don’t have to come here, if they self-deport and go home, they can come back legally,’ she said.
‘But if you wait and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get to come back to America. You don’t get the chance to come back and be an American again.’
What is ‘Alligator Alcatraz?’
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ was coined by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who shared a video about it on X (formerly Twitter) a week-and-a-half ago and called it ‘the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda’.
It has 3,000 beds and was built in eight days after DeSantis authorized its construction. The Trump administration said it will eventually hold up to 5,000 people.
The facility has tent structures to house migrants and will cost $450million to operate annually, with the federal government fully reimbursing the state.
It is slated to become the biggest migrant detention facility in the country.
Where is it located?
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is located on a 39-square-mile airstrip in the Big Cypress National Preserve wetlands adjacent to Everglades National Park.
It is in the heart of the Everglades, which is home to alligators, pythons, mosquitos and other dangerous wildlife.
Before departing the White House to tour the facility, Trump advised prospective escapees to run from the reptiles in a zigzag manner.
‘Don’t run in a straight line; run like this,’ he said, waving his hand. ‘You know what, your chances go up by 1%. Not a good thing.’
What did it used to be?
The facility is at the site of a former airport.
DeSantis said the facility was constructed with the airport’s concrete infrastructure, temporary structures like beds, and is equipped with medical care and food preparation operations.
The 11,000-foot runway at the airport has recently been used for training, but officials indicated that it could soon be used for deportation flights.
‘So you’ll be able to bring people in, they’ll get processed, they have an order of removal, then they can be queued and the federal government can fly — right on the runway, right there, you literally drive them 2,000 feet, put them on a plane and then they’re gone,’ DeSantis said.
How has Florida reacted?
The state attorney general and governor have both pushed the facility and fast-tracked it for the Trump administration.
DeSantis said that Florida National Guard members will be deputized as immigration judges so that migrants can have hearings within 48 hours.
‘We’ll have people here in this facility that can make (legal decisions)… Someone has a notice to appear — (President Joe) Biden would tell him to come back in three years… here, you’ll be able to appear like a day or two,’ said the governor.
‘So we want to cut through that so that we have an efficient operation between Florida and DHS to get the removal of these illegals done.’
What concerns are there around the facility?
Democrats and environmentalists have already come out in opposition of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’.
On Saturday, they rallied along Highway 41 to protest its construction.
They held signs with statements like, ‘No Alligator Alcatraz’, ‘Another stupid plan to abuse people & the Everglades’, and ‘Out of Florida’.
Two environmental groups claiming the facility will disturb and damage the Everglades ecosystem on Friday filed a lawsuit against agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
