America has the best alligators in the world, big beautiful alligators, perfect for stopping dangerous illegal immigrants from escaping detention until they can be processed and deported. At least, Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security think so. Others, however, are not so enamored with the idea of 'Alligator Alcatraz' being constructed in the middle of Florida's swamplands.
A legal and environmental firestorm is growing around Florida’s controversial migrant detention center under construction at the remote Dade‑Collier airstrip deep in the Everglades. Any illegals trying to escape the facility would have to face hundreds of National Guard soldiers as well as miles upon miles of snake and alligator infested waters before they reached civilization, essentially ensuring they stay in place until they are removed from the US.
Critics call the idea a "cruel spectacle" while proponents are cheering its ingenuity. A variety of activist groups are already swarming sites near the center in protest, some arguing that the facility threatens the environmental balance of the Everglades and others asserting that it violates Miccosukee and Seminole tribal land.
The conflict over the land goes back to 1968, when authorities in Dade County, now known as Miami-Dade County, began building the Big Cypress Jetport on land the Miccosukees used for ceremonial practices. The Dade County Port Authority referred to the project as the “world’s largest airport,” with six runways designed to handle large jets.
The airport became a flashpoint, but in 1969, a coalition if tribesmen and conservationists persuaded Florida Gov. Claude R. Kirk Jr. that the airport would damage the Everglades. He ordered construction be stopped. One runway, approximately 10,000 feet in length, was left behind as a training ground for pilots.
The current battle highlights a common tactic used by progressives - The exploitation of environmental sentiments as a tool to undermine unrelated conservative projects and policies. One lawsuit, filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, alleges that federal and state agencies have violated laws that, in part, require evaluating potential environmental impacts before such a project can move forward.
Clearly the effort is driven less by environmentalism and more by a desire to thwart deportations of illegals by any means available, but it's unlikely that the preservation angle will work for activists this time.
Tribal leaders are outraged by the construction of the site, claiming they can trace their rights to the "sacred land" back thousands of years. Of course, they have no rights to the land today, and this is all that really matters.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem are expected to visit the site this week and the center it set to go into operations in July. Florida officials, including Governor Ron DeSantis and AG James Uthmeier, defend the project as an efficient processing center.
Coming soon! pic.twitter.com/v3DCJsrDwV
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 28, 2025
"There will be some very dangerous criminal aliens that get processed through here," DeSantis told FOX News. "But if, for some reason, someone would be able to get out, where are you gonna go? You gonna dodge alligators for 50 miles to try to get to... no, it’s not gonna happen. So this is basically as secure as it gets." The state says the site will cost about $450 million a year to operate. That cost, according to officials, will be reimbursed by FEMA
At bottom, Alligator Alcatraz is going to open and there's not much that progressives can do to stop it.
