A remote immigration detention complex in the Florida Everglades—officially called the Everglades Detention Facility but widely dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”—received its first group of detainees on Wednesday night, a spokesman for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed. The opening follows weeks of rapid construction and comes as state officials intensify efforts to detain people arrested under the federal 287(g) program and expedite deportations.
Built in just eight days on a former training airfield about 45 miles west of Miami, the compound has an initial capacity of roughly 3,000 beds and is designed to expand to 5,000 by early July. The site includes a 10,000-foot runway for direct removal flights, more than 200 security cameras, 28,000 feet of barbed wire and 400 security personnel. Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are handling daily operations, while Florida’s Division of Emergency Management oversaw construction.
Governor Ron DeSantis and other state leaders say the Everglades location—and the prison-style moniker borrowed from San Francisco Bay’s Alcatraz—is meant to deter unauthorized immigration. Former President Donald Trump toured the facility on Tuesday, praising the project and its rapid completion.
Environmental groups and Native American tribes have condemned the center, warning it threatens the fragile Everglades ecosystem, sits on land they consider sacred and exposes detainees to extreme heat and mosquitoes. Heavy rains during Trump’s visit caused minor flooding in tent structures, although officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane and that contractors have reinforced vulnerable areas.
The first group of immigrants arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told a news outlet.
The first group of #migrantes arrived at a new detention center deep in the Everglades of #Florida that authorities dubbed “Alcatraz of the alligators,” said a spokesman for the Republican state attorney general, James Uthmeier.
