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By Hugh Cameron
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Florida has begun constructing a detention facility on the site of an abandoned runway, designed to temporarily house migrants detained during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
The idea is the brainchild of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who dubbed it "Alligator Alcatraz" because of its location within the Everglades National Park and the thousands of alligators and pythons that surround the site's perimeter.
Newsweek has contacted Uthmeier's office for further details on the facility.
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Why It Matters
Uthmeier, a stalwart supporter of Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, has argued that the location of the project is tailor-made for a secure detention facility. The Florida attorney general maintains that this will be necessary to cope with overflows from the state's facilities, which face overcrowding as a result of the administration's aggressive deportation efforts.
However, the plan has already drawn criticism from immigrant rights groups, environmentalists and Florida lawmakers, who argue that it may cause damage to the surrounding wildlife and that the facility could lack sufficient oversight.
What To Know
Alligator Alcatraz is set to be located at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, an idle landing strip west of Miami. Satellite images from Google Earth show the location of the 39-square-mile site.
According to NBC 6 South Florida, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie sent a letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Collier County Commissioner Rick LoCastro, signaling the government's intention to purchase rights to the land for $20 million.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the facility would be funded "in large part" by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's shelter and services program, per the BBC. Congress established the program in 2019 to provide emergency housing and aid for undocumented migrants.
A senior homeland security official told the Miami Herald that the facility would cost about $450 million a year to run once operational, with the state covering the upfront expenses and retaining the ability to seek reimbursement from the federal government.
However, in a letter sent to the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management on Monday, quoted by the Herald, Miami-Dade's mayor requested that further due diligence of the site be conducted before construction began. Cava added that the consequences for the surrounding Everglades ecosystem "could be devastating."
What People Are Saying
The Department of Homeland Security wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday: "We are working on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people's mandate for mass deportations. Alligator Alcatraz will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida."
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier told NewsNation: "Florida is leading in helping the Trump administration to enforce against illegal immigration. We have thousands of arrests taking place in the state, so jails are filling up. We're going to need some new detention sites. We're looking at a few options, but I think this one is ideal for several reasons: It's got an 11,000-foot runway, which makes it easy for large planes to come in and out. It's got a 30-square-mile radius on an abandoned airport that's already there—no longer in use by the public. [It] presents a great opportunity with a perimeter essentially already established by nature, so you don't have to spend a lot of money on the perimeter because once you're there, there's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide."
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wrote in a letter to the state's emergency management director: "Due to the location of this parcel in a critical area, the conveyance of this parcel requires considerable review and due diligence. [It] is also imperative that we fully understand the scope and scale of the proposed use of the site and what will be developed, as the impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating."
What Happens Next
A spokesperson for Uthmeier told The New York Times that work on the new facility began on Monday. In a video posted on X last week, the Florida attorney general said the project could be completed within 30 to 60 days, after which it would be able to house as many as 1,000 individuals.
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