(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump is anticipated to pay a visit to Florida’s contentious detention facility, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” when it inaugurates on Tuesday, according to a source well-acquainted with the situation who spoke to NewsNation.
The immigrant detention center, expedited by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is situated deep within the state’s Everglades wetlands at the location of the defunct Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport within the Big Cypress National Preserve.
The establishment will feature temporary structures like heavy-duty tents and trailers designed to accommodate detained immigrants. The state projects that by early July, it will have 5,000 immigration detention beds ready for use.
Environmental groups fear the site will harm the Everglades’ ecosystem, which is teeming with massive reptiles, including alligators and Burmese pythons.
DeSantis has touted the area’s wildlife as a positive: “Clearly, from a security perspective, if someone escapes, you know, there’s a lot of alligators. No one’s going anywhere.”
The ill-fated airport originally planned for the space was abandoned in 1970 after an environmental report warned that building a massive airport in the Everglades would “lead to land drainage and development for agriculture, transportation, and services in the Big Cypress Swamp which will inexorably destroy the south Florida ecosystem and thus the Everglades National Park,” according to the National Park Service.
Some Native American leaders claim the center encroaches on sacred land. There are 15 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, in Big Cypress National Preserve, where the airstrip is located.
Human rights activists have called the facility inhumane and raised issues with potentially thousands of people being housed in temporary tents and trailers during Florida’s hurricane season.
Environmental groups late Friday filed a last-minute lawsuit to halt the facility’s opening.
In response, DeSantis’ office said the detention center is a “necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a preexisting airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment.”
DeSantis is also reportedly considering a second processing center at Camp Blanding, a National Guard training base.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
