President Donald Trump attended the opening of a new immigration detention center in the Everglades on Tuesday, July 1, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” due to its remote, alligator-filled location. He said the center would focus on deporting the most dangerous immigrants first.
“Very soon, this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet,” Trump said during a news conference after touring the migrant detention facility. “We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swamp land and the only way out is really deportation.”
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Largest immigration detention center in the U.S.
Officials say the facility can hold 3,000 people and can expand to 5,000 in the future, making it the largest immigration detention center in the country. Migrants brought to the facility will be confined in dormitories surrounded by fencing and barbed wire.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also joined the tour, saying this is a partnership between Florida and the federal government to “make America safe again.”
“We are going after murderers and rapists and traffickers and drug dealers,” Noem said. “Getting them off the streets and getting them out of this country because Joe Biden let the worst of the worst come in here.”
Remote Everglades location
The facility is situated in a vast, remote area of swampland, filled with mosquitoes, pythons, and alligators, in Miami–Dade County, part of Florida’s Everglades. The facility features a two-mile-long runway for flying migrants out of the country.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he used emergency powers to authorize and begin construction, adding that the facility was built in just eight days. The annual operating cost is projected to be $450 million, with the federal government covering all expenses.
DeSantis announced National Guard members will act as immigration judges to give migrants court hearings within 48 hours.
“Our goal here is to be able to process them and be able to effectuate their return to their home country,” Gov. DeSantis said during a news conference with President Trump. “This is the opposite of what they were doing in New York by just putting them up in a hotel and then just letting them stay there indefinitely. No, we want to be able to send [them] back.”
Protests erupt during Trump visit
Not everyone is in favor of the new facility. A group of about 100 people gathered to protest the new migrant detention center in Florida during a visit by President Trump, just one day before the facility was set to open.
“Concentration camps are wrong. It’s wrong to imprison people without giving them due process. And it’s in the Fifth Amendment, it’s in the 14th Amendment, it’s a right that every person on the planet has, along with a freedom of speech,” Richard, a protester who did not give his last name, said. “I’m concerned we may lose our freedom of speech soon.”
“Furthermore, I’m using my free speech to protect the due process of the people who can’t protect themselves right.”
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ faces federal lawsuit
This comes as a group of environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit on Friday, June 27, to block further construction of the facility.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of the Everglades. They want the project to undergo an environmental review, as required by federal and state law.
“This site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by the Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species,” said Eve Samples, Friends of the Everglades’ executive director, in a statement. “This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
A spokesman for DeSantis said they will oppose the lawsuit in court.
“Governor Ron DeSantis has insisted that Florida will be a force multiplier for federal immigration enforcement, and this facility is a necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a pre-existing airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment,” said spokesman Bryan Griffin in an email to the Associated Press. “We look forward to litigating this case.”
Facility intended as a deterrent
The harsh location of “Alligator Alcatraz” is meant to discourage migrants residing in the country illegally from staying, according to officials. They also hope the facility serves as a deterrent to those considering entering the United States illegally.
Noem warned migrants who are in the country illegally to leave on their own, or risk being detained at the center. According to Noem, many countries are welcoming back their citizens.
“And their home countries are welcoming them. They’re setting up loans for houses, they’ve got food assistance, they’re helping to facilitate welcoming them home,” Noem said. “I just got home from Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and they’re all excited about getting their individuals back home from the United States.”
DHS releases names of some criminal detainees
DHS released the identities of some migrants who have been arrested and detained in recent weeks. Officials say they’re examples of who could end up at Alligator Alcatraz:
- Santo Villaba-Reyes, originally from Venezuela and convicted of homicide.
- Noel Acosta-Moya, also from Venezuela, convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault of a child under 13.
- Adolfo Santoscoy-Rodriguez, originally from Mexico, convicted of child abuse and forcible rape.
Additional detention site planned
“Alligator Alcatraz” will begin accepting and processing detained migrants on Wednesday, July 2. The state of Florida will also be opening a 2,000-bed facility at Fort Blanding.
