Florida Aims for July Opening of Its Migrant Swamp Prison Dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Officials say Florida is moving rapidly this week on construction of a migrant detention facility in an isolated section of the Everglades swamp, which has inspired the nickname “Alligator Alcatraz.”The remote prison, consisting mostly of large tents, will be operated on the runway of a defunct airport in the middle of the Sunshine State’s Big Cypress National Preserve, and is part of a broader federal effort to encourage local authorities to boost their capacity for detention.“Alligator Alcatraz: the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, said in a post on X accompanied by a slickly produced video announcing the facility.Mr. Uthmeier also touted the project in a podcast interview with a conservative commentator, Benny Johnson. “There’s really nowhere to go,” he said on “The Benny Show.” “If you’re housed there, if you’re detained there, there’s no way in, no way out.”The goal is to have 5,000 beds at the new center and at some other smaller facilities in the region.“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,” the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said in a statement to CBS News. “We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”Ms. Noem added that the detention facility will be funded “in large part” through a shelter and services program operated by the Federal Emergency Management System.The SSP, which was enacted by Congress in Fiscal Year 2024, allocates over $340 million to cities and non-federal entities to provide support and services to migrants and asylum-seekers released from federal custody along the U.S.-Mexico border. The program does not tap into funding earmarked for natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires.In the run up to last year’s presidential election, conservatives, including President Trump, criticized the Biden administration for using money from the same program to house migrants, falsely claiming that it had diverted funds needed for disaster relief after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.“They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank so they could give it to their illegal immigrants. This is the worst response in the history of hurricanes,” Mr. Trump said during an October campaign rally. FEMA responded in a statement saying no money had been taken from the Disaster Relief Fund, which is separate from the SSP.It was not immediately clear when the facility will be up and running, but a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman told the New York Times that the goal is to have it at least partially operating as soon as next month.On Monday, Mayor Daniella Cava of Miami-Dade County said she needs more time to evaluate the state’s plan for the abandoned airstrip.“I understand there is an intention to begin work on the site as early as Monday,” she wrote in a letter to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which will oversee operations at Alligator Alcatraz.“There has not been sufficient time to fully discuss these matters, and we thank you for your attention to these concerns given the rapid pace of the state’s effort.”

Florida Aims for July Opening of Its Migrant Swamp Prison Dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

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