WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is making a day trip to Florida’s Everglades on Tuesday for a firsthand look at a new immigration detention facility that the White House suggests will be especially secure given that it is “surrounded by alligators.”
The detention facility is on an isolated airstrip about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Miami and could house 5,000 detainees. It’s drawn protests over the potential impact on a delicate ecosystem and criticism that Trump is trying to send a cruel message to immigrants — while some Native American leaders have also opposed construction, saying the land is sacred.
But a key selling point for the Trump administration is the site’s remoteness, and the fact that it is in swampland filled with mosquitoes, pythons and alligators. The White House hopes that conveys a message to the detainees being housed there and the world at large that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the United States are not followed.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that the center is “informally known as Alligator Alcatraz,” a moniker that has alarmed immigrant activists but appeals to the president’s aggressive approach to deportations.
“There’s only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight,” Leavitt said. “It is isolated and it is surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain.”
Crackdowns on the border and harsh immigration policies have long been a centerpiece of Trump’s political brand.
During his first term in 2019, Trump denied reports that he floated the idea of building a moat filled with alligators at the U.S.-Mexico border. “I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough,” he said at the time.
In his second term, Trump has suggested that his administration could move to reopen Alcatraz, the notorious and hard-to-reach island prison off San Francisco. And Leavitt said the new Florida detention center’s inhospitable location — and dangerous nearby fauna — were pluses.
“A detention center surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape,” she said.
Former U.S. Rep. David Jolly of Florida, a former Republican who is now running for governor as a Democrat, called the facility a “callous political stunt.”
The White House has similarly promoted the political shock value of sending some immigrants awaiting deportation from the U.S. to a detention lockup in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and others to a megaprison in El Salvador.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are in detention facilities for immigration reasons, like entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa. They are either waiting for ICE to put them on the next flight or bus ride home or are fighting their removal in immigration court.
If an immigrant is accused of or has committed a violent crime, he or she is tried and held in state or federal criminal jurisdiction, separate from the immigration system. In those cases, they may be transferred to ICE for deportation after completing their criminal sentences.
State officials are spearheading construction of the Florida facility, but much of the cost is being covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whom Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has credited as the architect of the Everglades plan, first debuted the proposal with a slickly produced video, complete with custom graphics featuring red-eyed alligators and backed by a hard rock soundtrack.
The Florida Republican Party has fundraised off the facility, selling branded T-shirts and beverage container sleeves. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Monday that the facility could be open and “ready for business” by the time Trump arrives.
DeSantis said the site has obtained approval from the Department of Homeland Security, which posted an image of alligators wearing ICE hats and sitting in front of a fenced-in compound ringed with barbed wire.
The governor, who challenged Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has also played up the fact that the site will be hard to escape from.
“They ain’t going anywhere once they’re there, unless you want them to go somewhere, because good luck getting to civilization,” DeSantis said. “So the security is amazing.”
___
Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writers Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.