Post by : Jyoti Gupta

Photo:AP

President Donald Trump visited a newly constructed migrant detention facility in the heart of the Florida Everglades on Tuesday, describing it as a model for future immigration enforcement. Nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz," the center is built to hold up to 3,000 undocumented migrants and is surrounded by treacherous swampland teeming with alligators, crocodiles, and pythons—features the administration claims will deter escape attempts.

"This is where the most menacing migrants—some of the most vicious people on the planet—will be held," Trump said during the facility tour, which included a medical wing and a large air-conditioned tent with chain-link enclosures for detainees.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who joined Trump on the visit, announced plans to deputize members of Florida’s National Guard Judge Advocate Corps to serve as immigration judges. The goal, officials said, is to fast-track deportation hearings and reduce the burden on federal courts.

The facility is located on the remote Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, about 58 kilometers from Miami. A second center, expected to house 2,000 more detainees, is planned near Jacksonville.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the site would allow migrants to receive due process and then be quickly returned to their home countries. She also claimed that nearly one million undocumented migrants have already left the U.S. voluntarily—though she admitted official data is limited due to untracked exits and lack of reporting from origin countries.

The $450 million-a-year facility will be funded through a federal emergency shelter program previously used for housing migrants in urban areas.

However, the project has drawn sharp criticism from environmental groups, Native American communities, and residents. Activists warn that the detention center threatens endangered species and risks reversing decades of costly Everglades restoration. “Any other project proposed here would face intense environmental scrutiny. This one didn’t—because it’s a political move,” said Elise Pautler Bennett, a lawyer focusing on biological conservation.

Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Tribe who lives nearby, voiced fears that the “temporary” facility could become permanent. “This land is sacred and sensitive. Putting a prison here is a threat to both nature and community,” she said.

The move comes amid record-high immigration detentions in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) currently holds over 59,000 individuals—well above its intended capacity.

Calling the facility "secure and efficient," Trump said it could serve as a blueprint for similar centers in Republican-led states like Louisiana, as his administration ramps up immigration enforcement efforts across the country.