WASHINGTON (AP) — On Tuesday, President Donald Trump is taking a brief visit to the Everglades in Florida to observe a newly established immigration detention facility. The White House has emphasized the facility’s added security due to being “surrounded by alligators.”
Located on a secluded airfield roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Miami, this facility has the capacity to hold 5,000 detainees. It has faced demonstrations concerned about its environmental impact on a fragile ecosystem, and criticism that it is intended as an intimidating signal to immigrants. Additionally, some Native American leaders have resisted the development, arguing the land holds sacred significance.
The Trump administration highlights the site’s isolation as a substantial advantage, noting its location in swampland teeming with mosquitoes, pythons, and alligators. The White House intends for this setup to communicate a stern warning both to those housed there and globally about the consequences of not adhering to U.S. immigration policies.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that the center is “informally known as Alligator Alcatraz,” a moniker that has alarmed immigrant activists but appeals to the Republican president’s aggressive approach to deportations.
“There’s only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight,” Leavitt said. “It is isolated and it is surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain.”
Crackdowns on the border and harsh immigration policies have long been a centerpiece of Trump’s political brand.
During his first term in 2019, Trump denied reports that he floated the idea of building a moat filled with alligators at the U.S.-Mexico border. “I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough,” he said at the time.
In his second term, Trump has suggested that his administration could move to reopen Alcatraz, the notorious and hard-to-reach island prison off San Francisco. And Leavitt said the new Florida detention center’s inhospitable location — and dangerous nearby fauna — were pluses.
“A detention center surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape,” she said.
Former U.S. Rep. David Jolly of Florida, a former Republican who is now running for governor as a Democrat, called the facility a “callous political stunt.”
The White House has similarly promoted the political shock value of sending some immigrants awaiting deportation from the U.S. to a detention lockup in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and others to a megaprison in El Salvador.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are in detention facilities for immigration reasons, like entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa. They are either waiting for ICE to put them on the next flight or bus ride home or are fighting their removal in immigration court.
If an immigrant is accused of or has committed a violent crime, he or she is tried and held in state or federal criminal jurisdiction, separate from the immigration system. In those cases, they may be transferred to ICE for deportation after completing their criminal sentences.
State officials are spearheading construction of the Florida facility, but much of the cost is being covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whom Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has credited as the architect of the Everglades plan, first debuted the proposal with a slickly produced video, complete with custom graphics featuring red-eyed alligators and backed by a hard rock soundtrack.
The Florida Republican Party has fundraised off the facility, selling branded T-shirts and beverage container sleeves. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Monday that the facility could be open and “ready for business” by the time Trump arrives.
DeSantis said the site has obtained approval from the Department of Homeland Security, which posted an image of alligators wearing ICE hats and sitting in front of a fenced-in compound ringed with barbed wire.
The governor, who challenged Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has also played up the fact that the site will be hard to escape from.
“They ain’t going anywhere once they’re there, unless you want them to go somewhere, because good luck getting to civilization,” DeSantis said. “So the security is amazing.”
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writers Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
