The new facility is expected to hold 1,000 illegal immigrants within 60 days of construction.
Down in the Florida Everglades, state-level lawmakers and the Department of Homeland Security have decided to build a new detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house apprehended illegal immigrants awaiting processing and deportation.
Using Federal Emergency Management Administration funds, the facility is expected to hold up to 1,000 people and is touted as only the latest example of Florida’s dedication, under Gov. Ron DeSantis, to President Donald Trump’s policies to crack down on illegal immigration.
Meanwhile, the project has faced opposition from environmental groups over how the construction of the facility will ultimately affect the surrounding ecosystem, as well as resistance from local authorities. Emergency powers were triggered at the state level to override the local authorities and expedite the project, and state officials said the facility would have a minimal effect on the surrounding environment.
So as the creation of the facility nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” gets underway, here is what to know about it.
Where Will It Be Built?
Alligator Alcatraz will be built at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, an old, slightly used airstrip deep in the Everglades and roughly 36 miles south of Miami, in a town called Ochopee, Florida. It is owned by the Miami-Dade County government.
“Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport was originally the Everglades Jetport,” Miami International Airport states on its website. “The initial runway at the site was planned as the replacement runway for Miami International Airport to serve South Florida, but environmental concerns in the late 1970s to early 1980s stopped further development of the facility.”
Only approximately 900 acres of the 24,960-acre property is considered developed and operational land, including one runway measuring 10,499 feet long and 150 feet wide, capable of receiving both small and large aircraft. DeSantis’s communications director, Bryan Griffin, said in a recent email that the predeveloped area will be used to support temporary buildings.
“On the existing airstrip, [Florida Division of Emergency Management] will utilize temporary buildings and shelters consistent with similar applications during natural disasters,” he said. ”Utilities such as water, sewage, and power will be facilitated by mobile equipment that will be removed at the completion of the mission. … Operations on site will be completely self-contained.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who first coined the term “Alligator Alcatraz,” said he sees the landing strip’s immersion within the alligator-populated Florida Everglades as a key strategic incentive to choosing the site.
“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” he said in a video posted to social media platform X on June 19. “People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.”
At that time, he also said that within 60 days of the start of construction, the facility would be able to house up to 1,000 criminal illegal immigrants.
By T.J. Muscaro
