Live update: Trump, DeSantis visit controversial ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Everglades
President Donald Trump on Tuesday toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new state-run immigration detention center opening in the Everglades.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met Trump at the new facility, which was constructed within days, and has sparked a wave of criticism and protests. Two environmentalists groups are suing to halt the project.
Here are live updates on what’s happening:
Miami-Dade Mayor outraged over ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seized the airfield owned by Miami-Dade County, now being used for “Alligator Alcatraz,” under emergency powers he first granted himself in 2023 by declaring a statewide emergency over illegal immigration under then-President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, the county’s Democratic Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she was “outraged” by the facility and called for “compassionate solutions” for people whose only offenses relate to immigration.
“Instead of building more detention centers to house immigrants who have followed the legal process, I continue to call for compassionate solutions for those have built their lives here and contributed to our community and economy for decades,” Cava said in a statement.
She continued to say, “Like so many across our community. We are outraged by the state takeover to build a massive detention center in the middle of the Everglades.”
In a brief interview in County Hall in downtown Miami, “I imagine Miami-Dade residents will be detained there. They’ve made it clear they’re going to prioritize Florida residents [for detention at the facility]. And of course, we know many Miami-Dade residents will be swept up in these actions.”
-Douglas Hanks
Environmental groups lean on courts to stop ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Last week, environmental groups in Florida sued to try to stop the site from opening on Tuesday, arguing that the government had completely sidestepped the usual environmental permitting required for any construction in sensitive areas, such as the Everglades.
A judge has not yet reviewed (or granted) a request to shut down the site.
In a press call on Tuesday afternoon, lead attorney for the suit, Paul Schwiep of Miami-based firm Coffey Burlington, said there are no exceptions for skirting federal environmental review — even in an emergency situation.
“It’s just ironic that in the federal and state government rush to try to enforce immigration law, they’ve totally bypassed binding environmental law that should have been assessed before this started,” he said.
-Alex Harris
National Guard members can be immigration judges, Trump says
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would approve Florida’s plan to expedite deportations by having qualified National Guard members work as immigration judges.
Trump made the announcement during his visit to a new state-run immigration detention center in South Florida dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.
— Romy Ellenbogen and Ana Ceballos
Trump suggests zizagging to escape a gator. Bad advice, experts say
President Donald Trump told reporters before leaving the White House Tuesday for his visit to the new ICE detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials, that if immigrants housed there find themselves near an aggressive gator, they should run away in a zigzag pattern.
But whether the president was making a flippant joke or not, wildlife experts say that’s the wrong advice: You should run in the opposite direction as fast as you can, and in straight a line as possible.
— David Goodhue
Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ sparks jokes, memes, merch
“Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigrant detention facility that opened Tuesday in the Florida Everglades, has become a rich source of jokes, memes and even merchandise put out by officials aligned with the Trump administration — and the president’s supporters.
President Donald Trump, visiting the facility with Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday morning, quipped about the wildlife surrounding the buildings.
“A lot of body guards, a lot of cops in the form of alligators,” he told reporters. “You don’t have to pay them so much.”
— Grethel Aguila
A look inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Videos and photos posted on social media give a glimpse into the new facility, which is mostly composed of tents and trailers and is located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, surrounded by wetlands that are home to gators, pythons and other wildlife.
Inside the detention center are rows of two-tier bunk beds inside large cells that are totally surrounded on the sides and top by chain-link fencing.
— Michelle Marchante, Grethel Aguila and Ana Ceballos
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is detention center’s official name, state official says
Alligator Alcatraz is not just a moniker designed to sell political merchandise. It is actually the official name of the state-run immigration detention facility that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration built to help detain more people caught in President Donald Trump’s immigration sweeps.
“Yes, it is the official name,” Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, said in an email to the Herald/Times.
— Ana Ceballos
What the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ protests look like
One of the protesters gathered near the center early Tuesday was Phil Ehr. The 64-year-old retired Navy commander is running for the U.S. House of Representatives seat now held by Republican Rep. Carlos Giménez, who represents a portion of South Florida.
Ehr, who has been at the airport since around 5 a.m., called “Allligator Alcatraz” a “waste of money” for taxpayers. He criticized the “exorbitant cost” it would take to run the facility while Florida residents are still recovering from previous hurricanes and storms.
He’s also concerned about the site’s environmental impact.
“This is a protected area,” said Ehr, a Republican-turned-Democrat. “It’s critical to our water sources in South Florida. And here he [ DeSantis] is at the stroke of a pen saying, ‘hey, I want to help out President Trump by creating this mythical alligator, Alcatraz.’”
As crowds of protesters gathered, a truck was seen driving back and forth Tuesday morning near the facility’s entrance, displaying portraits of Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Reps Maria Elivra Salazar and Carlos Gimenez, two of the three Republican House members representing South Florida, with the wording “Traitors to immigrants to Miami Dade to the American Dream.”
Not everyone in the crowd was rallying against the Trump and DeSantis administration’s immigration crackdown.
Bob Kunst, a longtime South Florida gay-rights activist, pushed a black cart down the street with a large cardboard sign proclaiming “We love ‘Daddy’ Trump” in bold red letters. Kunst said he’s a registered Democrat though he no longer trusts the party. Kunst said he supports legal immigration and the construction of Alligator Alcatraz.
“The bottom line is, I support what they’re doing, I support what Trump is doing,” said Kunst, who was wearing a red hat with the words “Trump was right about everything.”
— Milena Malaver and Churchill Ndonwie
‘Incredibly cruel and inhumane,’ protester says
Rachel Bass, 49, said she drove two hours from Cape Coral on Florida’s Gulf Coast to protest Tuesday at “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“This area was not meant to support this type of project. It’s environmentally hazardous, not to mention incredibly cruel and inhumane,” said Bass, carrying a sign that read “No ICE in the Everglades.”
Bass said she’s surprised by how fast the detention center was constructed. Her home still has damage from Hurricane Ian, which devastated Florida’s Gulf Coast in 2022.
“If they were able to build the type of infrastructure — air conditioning, plumbing, running water, electricity, all of that stuff — if they were able to do that in a week, they have some real explaining to do for the rest of Southwest Florida” when the next hurricane hits, she said.
“They should be able to help us better more quickly when we have a hurricane,” Bass said.
— Milena Malaver
Trump jokes about teaching immigrants ‘how to run from alligators’
Before Trump took off on Air Force One from Washington, D.C. to visit a Florida-run immigration detention center deep in the Everglades, a reporter asked the president if the point of the detention facility’s location — a swampy environment filled with alligators and pythons — is meant to have detainees who escape be eaten by the large reptiles.
“”I guess that’s the concept,” Trump said. “This is not a nice business. I guess that is the concept.”
The president then joked that immigrants will need to learn how to run away from alligators if they escape.
— Milena Malaver, Churchill Ndonwie, Ana Ceballos, and Syra Ortiz Blanes
What ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ looks like early in the day
Law enforcement officials lined up along the one-way entrance to the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport early Tuesday in the Everglades, monitoring who was coming in and out of the center. By 8 a.m., more than a dozen media outlets had lined up in a single file in the grass, just outside the gates.
Shortly after, three black Ford Expedition vans entered the airport, followed by the Collier County Sheriff Office’s Emergency Response Team. Collier deputies could be seen directing vehicles and guarding the entrance. At least two military vehicles were seen entering the airport, where the detention center was built by the state over the past week. The center is about 40 miles west of Miami, off Tamaimi Trail in the Everglades.
Near the facility’s entrance is a sign taped up to a metal barrier with the words “Preserve Nature, No More Destruction!!” written on it. Passing cars slowly drove by, trying to catch a glimpse of what can be seen beyond the open gates.
— Milena Malaver and Churchill Ndonwie
What DeSantis has said about ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
DeSantis, who is expected to join Trump on Tuesday morning, has called the new facility a “force multiplier” that will respond to the Trump administration’s needs for more detention space for immigrants. The site, which has a runway long enough to rival what’s available at Miami International Airport, could also help ramp up deportation flights.
“Most states are doing nothing,” DeSantis said at a news conference on Monday. “We are one of the few states — we may be the only state — that is really full throttle saying, ‘You know what? We are not going to solve this problem unless we are part of the team.’”
— Syra Ortiz Blanes and Ana Ceballos
Meet some of the folks who live near ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Scott and Conny Randolph live on a wild piece of land they call paradise. They’re comforted by the hoots of owls and snorts of pig frogs. They look up at night to a sky full of glittering stars. And when they get up in the morning, they look out the window to greet their neighbor, a 6-foot-long alligator named Big Momma.
Anyone who listens to the Randolphs, who live on the property of the Clyde Butcher Big Cypress Gallery, will get an earful on how beautiful, magical and serene the Big Cypress National Preserve is.
But those who listen to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who proposed building Alligator Alcatraz, a migrant detention center smack dab in the middle of sprawling Everglades marsh, may get a different picture. “You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. No where to go, no where to hide,” he said in a video posted on X.
Folks who live and work in Big Cypress, a federally protected section of the vast Florida Everglades, are pushing back on outsiders’ misconceptions of their beloved swamp. It is not totally inhospitable to human life — just ask the Seminoles and Miccosukees.
— Amanda Rosa
How DeSantis built ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ within days
Nearly three years ago, when Hurricane Ian destroyed a bridge in southwest Florida and left residents on a barrier island with scant access to drinking water and food, Gov. Ron DeSantis leveraged his emergency authority to scramble contractors to reconstruct the bridge. It took less than three days.
Now, the Republican governor is wielding those same powers for something different: building an immigration detention center deep in the Everglades in a week.
— Ana Ceballos, Romy Ellenbogen and Alex Harris
What is ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and where is it in Florida?
The detention immigration facility is located in an idle airstrip found within the Florida Everglades, about 40 miles west of Miami International Airport and halfway to Naples. It’s just north of the Tamiami Trail, which runs through the Everglades.
The air strip, known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, is owned by Miami-Dade County and was recently seized by the state. It’s located just east of the Big Cypress National Preserve, which is federally protected land, and is surrounded on three sides by Miccosukee and Seminole tribal infrastructure, including homes and ceremonial sites.
The detention center is nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” because it’s surrounded by wetlands home to gators and pythons.
— Grethel Aguila
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 7:16 AM.
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