Ron DeSantis says Donald Trump ‘very excited’ by ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ ahead of visit Tuesday

Gov. Ron DeSantis has confirmed President Donald Trump plans to visit the airport-turned-internment camp known as “Alligator Alcatraz” Tuesday, and said the President is enthusiastic about the concept.

“I did speak with the President this weekend. He’s very excited about doing it,” DeSantis said, adding that he thinks Trump doesn’t want to see Florida as “the only one in this fight.”

The vendor-managed project is expected to cost $245 per bed, or $450 million a year, and will be reimbursed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Expectations are that the facility eventually will offer short-term confined shelter for 5,000 undocumented immigrants ahead of their deportation.

DeSantis expects the President to be impressed when he is able to see what Florida is “going to be able to do” with the “makeshift detention space” at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on the edge of the Everglades National Park.

“The security is amazing, natural and otherwise,” DeSantis said, calling the compound “an effective way to increase the number of removals in deportations.”

DeSantis said Border Czar Tom Homan and the Department of Homeland Security talked to his Office about the plan, which was hatched “about a month ago.”

In terms of removing migrants who entered the U.S. illegally, DeSantis said the logistics for the “force multiplier” couldn’t be better, especially with “National Guard acting as immigration Judges right on site.”

“You’ll be able to bring people in, they’ll get processed. They have an order of removal, then they can be (removed), and the federal government can fly right on the runway, right there. You literally drive them 200 feet, put them on a plane, and then they’re gone,” DeSantis said.