Trump and DeSantis Showcase “Alligator Alcatraz” in Everglades as Migrant Detention Center Opens
Ochopee, FL — In a dramatic show of force and federal-state unity, former President Donald Trump joined Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Tuesday to tour Florida’s controversial new migrant detention center deep in the Everglades — a facility officials say will begin processing detainees within 24 hours.
Dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the facility sits on the grounds of the remote Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a vast 39-square-mile former Cold War airstrip surrounded by alligator-infested wetlands. The project has quickly become a flashpoint in the national immigration debate, with Republicans lauding its efficiency and critics blasting it as dystopian, dangerous, and unconstitutional.
The site — made up of military-style tents, razor-wire fencing, and modular trailers — is already prepared to hold 5,000 detainees and could expand to 10,000. According to officials, it was assembled in just days after DeSantis received federal approval and tapped emergency powers to bypass local objections.
“This is so professional, so well done,” Trump told reporters after walking the perimeter of the camp. “It’s really government working together.”
DeSantis emphasized the location’s strategic isolation, saying the surrounding swamps provide “natural security.” He later joked, “Once you’re in, good luck getting out.”
Trump, never one to resist theatrical flair, compared the site to the infamous San Francisco prison it’s nicknamed after and laughed when asked if the goal was for escapees to be eaten by alligators. “I guess that’s the concept,” he said, before giving a zigzag demonstration on how to outrun one.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who coined the “Alligator Alcatraz” moniker, said the site would serve as a national model for mass deportation infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security has pledged to double detention capacity to 100,000 beds nationwide and is now setting daily quotas of 3,000 arrests.
Using National Guard Judge Advocates acting as temporary immigration judges, DeSantis said the state will expedite deportations — “process, order, and fly them out — all from the same site,” he boasted. The facility’s 11,000-foot runway will be used for direct deportation flights, with detainees transported only a short distance from barracks to plane.
The price tag? Over $450 million a year, largely reimbursed by FEMA. And the politics are just as heavy as the logistics.
Conservative figures including podcaster Benny Johnson have begun branding and selling “Alligator Alcatraz” merchandise, from hats to koozies. Meanwhile, the Florida GOP is fundraising on the facility’s launch as a symbol of its tough stance on immigration.
But the backlash has been immediate and fierce.
Hundreds of protesters, including immigration advocates, environmentalists, and Indigenous leaders, gathered along the Tamiami Trail over the weekend to denounce the project. The Dade-Collier site borders the Big Cypress National Preserve and is adjacent to 19 active Miccosukee and Seminole tribal villages.
Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress condemned the project as an assault on sacred lands and said it disregards centuries of tribal sovereignty. “Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homeland,” he said.
Environmental groups have also sued to halt the facility, accusing the state and federal government of skirting legally required environmental impact reviews. The lawsuit, filed jointly by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, warns that building a detention camp in the middle of a fragile and protected ecosystem risks catastrophic consequences — to both humans and endangered species.
Florida officials insist the camp has air conditioning and a hurricane evacuation plan, though many worry about the safety of thousands held in tents during the state’s most dangerous and humid months. DeSantis has downplayed all concerns, saying the facility will have “zero environmental impact” and calling the lawsuit “frivolous.”
Despite the optics, Trump and DeSantis were in celebratory spirits Tuesday. During a roundtable following the tour, news broke that the U.S. Senate had passed Trump’s sweeping immigration bill — further fueling applause from those in the room.
“You know I’m here when I probably should be in D.C.,” Trump said. “But this matters. This is the model. And we’re going to do it across the country.”
For now, detainees begin arriving Wednesday. Whether “Alligator Alcatraz” becomes the prototype for a nationwide crackdown or collapses under legal, ethical, and logistical scrutiny remains to be seen.
Source Links:
NPR – www.npr.org/2025/06/30/florida-alligator-alcatraz-trump-desantis
Miami Herald – www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/everglades
Center for Biological Diversity – www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/2025/florida-immigration-detention
Homeland Security – www.dhs.gov/news/2025/detention-expansion
