Protest in the Everglades Sunday focused on proposed immigrant detention camp at abandoned airport

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Several conservation-related organizations will gather in the Everglades Sunday morning to protest a state-proposed plan to place an immigration detention facility at the former Everglades Jetport inside Big Cypress National Preserve.

The proposal, made recently by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and dubbed by him as the Alligator Alcatraz, would convert the abandoned jetport into a detention center for immigrants with criminal records.

The remote isolated location was chosen because it was considered ideal for preventing escapes. "Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide," Uthmeier said about the remote placement of the proposed camp in a promotional video posted to X. "We're ready to go."

Uthmeier said in the video that within just 30 to 60 days after beginning construction, the camp could be up and running and could house as many as 1,000 criminal aliens.

"This presents a great opportunity for the state of Florida to work with Miami, Dade and Collier counties," he said. "The governor tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities, I think this is the best one."

In his tweet on X, Uthmeier said: "Alligator Alcatraz: the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda."

“If somebody were to get out, there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide — only the alligators and pythons are waiting. That’s why I like to call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’” Uthmeier told Fox Business, announcing that the project is in the early stages.

Sunday's protest of the proposal will be at 54575 Tamiami Trail and is planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Coordinating efforts are being made by Betty Osceola, a Native American Everglades grandmother, environmental activist, and educator, Love The Everglades Movement, and Friends of the Everglades to protest a proposed immigrant detention center inside the BCNP.

Renowned Everglades and nature photographer Clyde Butcher and his wife Nikki, and a team from The Big Cypress Gallery, said they will join the protest.

The proposed detention camp is just six miles east of the Big Cypress Gallery.

The jetport's initial runway at the site was planned as a replacement runway for Miami International Airport to serve South Florida. In the 1970s, a coalition of conservationists, Indigenous leaders, and concerned citizens stopped the project.

This site is also considered sacred and a multi-generational home to Florida’s native people. The location is the origin of the Friends of the Everglades, formed in 1969 by Marjory Stoneman Douglas during the efforts against the airport.

Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades,mtold Huffington Post the plan was a "terribly" bad idea.

“Think about what could happen if we bring in a 1,000-bed prison, all the ancillary development you would need. We call on the governor to put a stop to this proposal right now,” Samples said.

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