Don’t worry about hurricanes at Alligator Alcatraz. The government has a plan | Opinion

Mother Nature weighed in on Tuesday about the location of the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention camp that the governor and president are so excited about.

The verdict? Bad idea, Florida. Bad.

It happened while Gov. Ron DeSantis was in full cry, surrounded by TV cameras, proudly describing the virtues of the tent-and-trailer camp his administration has knocked together in eight days to help carry out President Trump’s deportation agenda.

Then the rains came.

It was a simple storm, not a hurricane, and it lasted less than an hour by most accounts. But it was enough to see the truth, captured on video by Spectrum News television reporter Jason Delgado. It was evident in every seeping tent seam, puddle of water, rattling door and waving tent wall. When it comes to weather, Florida doesn’t play.

As the rain continued, water threatened electrical cables and spread beneath the flagpoles holding the state and American flags. Pounding raindrops nearly drowned out DeSantis’ words as he stood in the middle of one of the tents, still talking.

You could almost see the light bulb going off over his head: Perhaps putting a tent-and-trailer detention camp in the middle of a swamp in Florida during hurricane season isn’t very smart.

Naturally, it’s taxpayers footing the bill for this insanity — which, by the way, environmentalists say may damage the Everglades — at a cost of some $450 million a year. That’s money that could be used, say, to help solve real crises in Florida, such as the lack of housing regular people can afford. The expense may be reimbursed by the federal government. But, of course, that’s taxpayer money, too. So we pay for it either way.

Never fear, though, the government is on top of the hurricane threat. Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, has said the camp, which is next to the Big Cypress National Preserve, can withstand the winds of a Category 2 storm (that’s up to 110 mph).

Never mind that Southwest Florida, where the camp is located, was hit by three major storms — that’s Category 3 or above — in the last three years. And that the hurricane season lasts until the end of November. And that the first detainees were supposed to be brought to the facility on Wednesday.

Cool. Clearly, it’s all under control.

“This is Florida, by the way,” Guthrie reassured reporters in the middle of Trump’s visit to the site, also on Tuesday. “We have a hurricane plan.”

Let’s hope it’s better than their no-hurricane plan.

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This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 2:42 PM.