Jacob Ogles
President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis say a detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” will take in migrants starting Tuesday. But the 1,000 beds immediately coming online are only the beginning.
DeSantis, asked if the facility can grow, said “there very well may be.” He noted that the center, erected at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Everglades, was built in just eight days, but only on an existing foundation.
“You’ll see all the beds, the medical, the galley, everything is on the concrete. We’re not using any of the other stuff. Now, as you’ll see, there’s a lot of concrete,” DeSantis said.
Trump and members of his administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, toured the facility, where razor wire has been quickly erected around the 38-square-mile site and where a chain-link fence has been used to create cells within tents.
He said once Trump and his security detail leave the South Florida facility, migrants will be quickly brought into the camp. There, they will receive treatment and can have cases adjudicated onsite.
Trump said he’s pleased by the isolation of the camp in the Florida swamplands.
“You don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are the form of alligators,” Trump said. “You don’t have to pay them so much, but I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be.”
Officials at the Office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who secured support from Homeland Security in mid-June, said the South Florida facility can be grown to 3,000 beds by the end of the month.
DeSantis also said the state will quickly bring 2,000 beds into use at Camp Blanding in Northeast Florida for migrant detention as well.
While the Trump administration reported no illegal crossings at the Southern border in May, DeSantis said there were still needs for centers like “Alligator Alcatraz.” He said crossings were rampant under Democratic President Joe Biden.
“The border, you did that quicker than, we knew you’d do it, but you did it so quick, which is great,” DeSantis told Trump, “but Biden let in how many millions, and you’ve got to take care of them. This is one example of a state operating this. The feds are approving it, supporting it.”
He said other states, especially ones controlled by Republicans, should follow Florida’s example and establish similar detention centers.
“On any given day, Florida constitutes about 20% of all immigration arrests nationwide,” he said. “What I would just say is, don’t let Florida be the only state.”
