President Donald Trump is leaning into the cold blooded descriptions of a new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility to detain migrants in Florida’s Everglades, with a planned presidential trip to see it Tuesday.
He will be joined by former presidential primary rival Gov. Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who already sparked concern about the new lock-up by posting an image of menacing alligators wearing ICE baseball hats.
‘The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz,”‘ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. ‘There is only one road leading in, and the result the only way out is a one way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,’ she added.
The trip will have Trump leaving Washington even as the Senate is dealing with his ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill,’ which faces cross tensions from Republican conservatives concerned about estimates showing it adds up to $4 trillion to the debt, and moderates who have fretted about slashing cuts to Medicaid.
Pressed by the Daily Mail whether the dangerous animals were a design feature, Leavitt responded: ‘When you have illegal murderers and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape.’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted the ‘dangerous animals’ that surround a new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention facility for migrants
‘So of course, we want to keep the American people safe, and we want to remove these public safety threats from our streets, and we want to effectively detain them as best as we can,’ she continued. ‘As for why the President is going, I think his trip to this detention facility actually underscores the need to pass the one big, beautiful bill, because we need more detention facilities across the country.’
DeSantis will be able to hold up to 5,000 migrants, as the Trump administration gears up its mass deportation campaign targeting people who are here illegally.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told Fox Business that ‘at the start they likely will be individuals who are picked up under 287(g). These are not going to be high threat facilities just yet, but they have the capacity to hold the worst of the worst.’
She said that included murderers, rapists, and gang members.
But she agreed when pressed that it would not be just violent criminals who get placed there.
‘Not likely. But we do need proper facilities especially as we’re ramping up,’ she said.
The idea has sparked fierce backlash, with critics condemning it over environmental risks and calling out the inhumane conditions of detaining people in such camps
The controversial detention center will be set at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a forgotten pilot training airstrip deep in the Everglades
The Department of Homeland Security brazenly stoked fear with an AI-generated meme showing snarling alligators in ICE baseball caps patrolling the swampy grounds of the future facility dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’
‘We do need places to hold these individuals these bed spaces before we remove them from the country,’ she said, adding it could be a ‘blueprint for across the country.
McLaughlin was referring to a provision of the law that according to ICE allows it to partner with local authorities for the ‘arrest and removal of aliens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.’
The tent facility being assembled at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport features an air strip that could be used for arrivals and deportations.
DeSantis called the facility inside the Everglades west of Miami it a ‘one-stop shop.’
Opponents who are bashing the idea on environmental and other grounds are also stressing the wildlife. The habitat hosts an estimated 200,000 alligators, along with non-indigenous predators like pythons.
One activist wanting to preserve the ecosystem even mentioned that a family of panthers lives nearby.
Former US diplomat Brett Bruen Noem’s post for showing a ‘horrendous lack of humanity.’ National security expert Christopher Burgess called the post ‘disgusting.’
The show of force comes a month after Trump vowed to reopen the real Alcatraz to house ‘ruthless’ and violent offenders.