The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has approved the construction of a new immigrant detention facility in Florida, informally dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” according to a report by The New York Times.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier initially pitched the idea to turn the “virtually abandoned Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility” into a detention center to house illegal aliens, which would be guarded by “alligators and pythons.”
“I think this is the best one. I call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ This 30 square mile area is completely surrounded by the Everglades — presents an efficient, low cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” he said. If detainees were to escape, “there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.”
Per the New York Times, the facility would be “composed of large tents, and other planned facilities will cost the state around $450 million a year to run.” The outlet added: “The remote facility, composed of large tents, and other planned facilities will cost the state around $450 million a year to run, but Florida can request some reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.”
We are working on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations. Alligator Alcatraz will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.https://t.co/NWdAnEUC0h
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 24, 2025
In a post on X, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the “new facilities” for housing criminal illegal aliens would be “largely funded” through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed to deliver cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” Noem wrote. “We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”
“These new facilities will in large part be funded by FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which the Biden administration used as a piggy bank to spend hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars to house illegal aliens, including at the Roosevelt Hotel that served as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to shelter Laken Riley’s killer,” Noem continued.
“I’m proud to help support President Trump and Secretary Noem in their mission to fix our illegal immigration problem once and for all,” Uthmeier wrote in a post on X. “Alligator Alcatraz and other Florida facilities will do just that.”
