President Donald Trump will be in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday for the opening of a controversial immigrant detention center spearheaded by state Republican leaders, which has faced vocal pushback from Democrats, Native American leaders and activist groups over humanitarian and environmental concerns.
The facility, informally dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state Republicans, was the brainchild of state Attorney General James Uthmeier. It has received significant national attention, including during a “Fox and Friends” interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday.
DeSantis described the push as Florida’s continued effort to align the state with Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown. But Trump’s decision to attend in person, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has shifted some of the focus to the administration, which had to approve Florida’s plan to run the facility.
“When the president comes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to see the facility, which is expected to be ready for operation on Tuesday” DeSantis said at a news conference Monday.
He said that he spoke to Trump over the weekend and that Trump is “very excited.”
Noem said last week on X: “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. We will expand facilities and bed spaces in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”
NBC News first reported Sunday night that Trump would attend, a big boost for the effort. Noem had to approve creating the project and is likely to reimburse the state with significant federal funding, but until Monday’s public announcement, it was unclear how the White House formally viewed the project.
There has been significant pushback from Democrats and immigration advocates who see the project as inhumane. They have objected to putting people whom the administration has identified as being undocumented in the middle of a swamp surrounded by snakes and alligators in the middle of the Florida heat — and in an area of the state that is prone to hurricanes. But those reasons are why Uthmeier, DeSantis and other Republicans have said the facility is needed.
Using harsh conditions as a deterrent for undocumented residents to come to Florida is the goal, Florida Republicans have argued.
“They can’t get stuck in a hurricane if they self-deport,” Bill Helmich, executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, said on X in response to concern that the facility is in an area of the state that is regularly affected by hurricanes.
Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit over the facility Friday.
“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,” Eve Samples, Friends of the Everglades’ executive director, said in a statement. “This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
The issue has been a political winner for Republican in Florida. It has led to an explosion of national media attention and a boost in campaign contributions, a dynamic that has led the state Republican Party to start selling “Alligator Alcatraz” merchandise to take advantage of the moment.
DeSantis’ administration used its emergency powers to expedite the $450 million-per-year facility, which DeSantis has said will be able to hold up to 3,000 undocumented immigrants. The entire compound was constructed in just seven days, a process that included building what amounts to a tent city, hiring a dozen vendors and seizing land from land owned by Miami-Dade County over local leaders’ objections. The facility will be housed on a little-used airstrip that includes a runway that DeSantis said can be used to quickly fly undocumented immigrants to third countries if deportation is deemed appropriate.
National Democrats have been relatively quiet about the issue, but there has been a pressure campaign by Democrats in the state, who are in the minority, to blast the plan.
“They are locking people in a swamp in extreme heat with no clear plan for humane conditions,” state Sen. Shevrin Jones said Friday morning on a call with reporters organized by Florida Democrats.
