During a visit Tuesday by President Donald Trump to a immigration detention camp in the Florida Everglades and a roundtable discussion on illegal immigration, the second-term chief executive said he thought the dubbed Alligator Alcatraz site could be there for some time.
The president arrived at the former jetport project site shortly before 11 a.m. He was joined by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons and Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie.
After President Trump disembarked from Air Force One he said the new immigration detention center in the remote area of the Florida Everglades, surrounded by alligator-filled swamps, could be a model for future projects as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.
After a tour of the site, Trump took part in a wide-ranging roundtable session, touching on the "Big Beautiful Bill" passed by the senate earlier in the day as well as myriad other topics.
During a question-and-answer period after the roundtable, Trump indicated the camp, and others like it, could be long-term.
"I think we'd like to see them in many states, really, many states. I know (Ron DeSantis) doing a second one, at least a second one, and probably a couple of more. And you know, at some point they might morph into a system where you going to keep it for a long time.”
Trump went on to describe what he called "bad accidents in New York" and who caused them: "They were done very much in purpose. People being pushed into a subway just before it arrives, going 40 miles an hour and they're 10 feet away from where the thing is to get pushed right into the face of the subway train, get whacked and killed. These are sick people. I'd like to get them out of here too."
More than just for migrants, Trump described others who the South Florida camp is being built for:
“We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time, people that whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they're not looking and kill them. People that knife you when you're walking down the street. They're not new to our country. Many of them were born in our country. I think we should get them the hell out of here, too.”
Kevin Guthrie, head of Florida's Department of Emergency Management, attended the roundtable and tour. He described the detention center during the roundtable:
"The detention facility includes over 158,000 square feet of housing, and is a fully aluminum frame structure rated for winds of 110 miles an hour, or a high-end Category 2, for those people that don't think that we're taking that into consideration, this is Florida, by the way. Power supply is fully redundant with backup generators in place. We put a staff village here on site with a capacity of 1,000. Our services are hot meal three times a day, 24/7 medical facility, pharmacy, air conditioning, access to indoor and outdoor rec yards, legal and clergy support services, laundering. Our security element is over 200 security cameras throughout the facility, more than 28,000 feet of barbed wire, 400 plus security personnel, to include 200 men and women, soldiers and airmen underneath Major General John Haas' command as the adjutant general of Florida. And it's all surrounded, as you pointed out, Mr. President, by 10 miles of beautiful Florida. Everglades."
Also attending the tour and roundtable were DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The facility has swiftly become a symbol of the president's border crackdown. Migrants could start arriving there soon after his visit, which included walking through a medical facility featuring temporary cubicles as areas for treatment.
Assembled on a remote airstrip with tents and trailers that are normally used after a natural disaster, the detention center's nickname as “Alligator Alcatraz” has alarmed immigrant activists and prompted appeals to the Republican president’s aggressive approach to deportations.
“This is not a nice business,” Trump said while leaving the White House. Then he joked that “we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.”
“Don’t run in a straight line. Run like this,” he said, as he moved his hand in a zigzag motion. “And you know what? Your chances go up about 1%."
That doesn’t seem to be sound advice, though. It’s best to dash in one direction in the rare situation when an alligator gives chase, according to a website run by the University of Florida.
The trip was announced Monday as preparation activities continued at the site including a steady stream of dump trucks, flatbed trailers hauling a variety of materials, National Guard troops and an assembly of law enforcement members.
There have been planes apparently landing there as well.
Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee leader and environmental educator who lives near the facility, posted a video to social media shortly after midnight that purported to show a plane landing at the camp.
Osceola, who organized two protests of the camp project since it was announced, said yesterday she would not be at the site today and urged those who might be there to act peacefully.
"I'm not going to be here tomorrow. The kids, the youth, are going to have their event. I have to, I want to be in prayer tomorrow. I have some things that I'm going to do. So I was out here just recording things and out here praying so the youth who plan to be out here tomorrow are safe," Osceola said in her Reel on Facebook. "Whatever you do out here, make your voices heard, but in a peaceful manner."
Also at the scene was the Collier County Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team along with state police and other law enforcement personnel. The Sheriff's Office said they were there in case of protests or demonstrations.
There were protesters in evidence, as well as supporters of Trump, including members of the Proud Boys. Some interactions were noted including a verbal exchange, but no violence was reported.
Opens today
On his X account, Uthmeier posted, "And in just a week, Alligator Alcatraz was built. Opens today!"
Alligator Alcatraz: the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. pic.twitter.com/96um2IXE7U
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 19, 2025
The detention facility could house up to 5,000 detainees. It's drawn protests over the potential impact on a delicate ecosystem and criticism that Trump is trying to send a cruel message to immigrants — while some Native American leaders including Osceola have also opposed construction, saying the land is sacred. There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole tribal villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds throughout the area.
But a key selling point for the Trump administration is the site's remoteness, and the fact that it is in swampland filled with mosquitoes, pythons and alligators. The White House hopes that conveys a message to the detainees being housed there and the world at large that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the United States are not followed.
Crackdowns on the border and harsh immigration policies have long been a centerpiece of Trump’s political brand.
During his first term in 2019, Trump denied reports that he floated the idea of building a moat filled with alligators at the U.S.-Mexico border. “I may be tough on border security, but not that tough," he said at the time.
In his second term, Trump has suggested that his administration could move to reopen Alcatraz, the notorious and hard-to-reach island prison off San Francisco. And White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the new Florida detention center's inhospitable location — and dangerous nearby fauna — were pluses.
“A detention center surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape,” she said.
Former U.S. Rep. David Jolly of Florida, a former Republican who is now running for governor as a Democrat, called the facility a “callous political stunt.”
On Saturday, the second significant protest in as many weeks was pulled together by people such as Osceola.
Osceola voiced concern on how the camp was affecting the area and feared that letting the camp spring into life will help developers open the environmentally sensitive area to homes, stores and more.
Osceola said that the camp is only a beginning. She said previous development plans like the jetport in the 1970s were stopped. But her sense was that if the camp goes through, then further development was not far behind.
"The earth must be crying. I feel the sadness. My shoes are off. I can feel what it's feeling. It's very upset," she said. "My ancestors are laid to rest out there, all around that place. The ancestors are there. The ancestors don't like all these vehicles and all that fuel that's going in, being dumped on them. They're upset. There's a lot going on. There's all these emotions in the air coming out of the environment about all of this, I feel it. I'm being bombarded by it. That's why we're praying and trying to reassure the earth and try to pray for humanity to give us another chance."
Osceola said she and others were praying to stop the project.
Read more
- ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is just the start of a state plan to remove immigrants. Will it wreck Florida’s economy?
- Florida to build 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention center for migrants in Everglades
- Protest at detention center site decries use in national preserve area
- Environmental groups sue to block migrant detention center rising in Everglades; Florida Audubon urges state use 'alternatives'
Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit Friday to block the detention center.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity are the groups suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and Miami-Dade County.
The lawsuit seeks to halt the project until it undergoes a stringent environmental review as required by federal law. There is also supposed to be a chance for public comment, according to the lawsuit filed in Miami federal court.
DeSantis' spokesman said they will oppose the lawsuit in court.
Those same environmental groups planned to host a virtual press conference Tuesday afternoon about threats posed by the detention center and their federal lawsuit filed to halt it.
The center is set to begin processing people who entered the U.S. illegally as soon as next week, the governor said Friday on "Fox and Friends."
The Florida Republican Party has fundraised off the facility, selling branded T-shirts and beverage container sleeves. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Monday that the facility could be open and “ready for business” by the time Trump arrives.
DeSantis said the site has obtained approval from the Department of Homeland Security, which posted an image of alligators wearing ICE hats and sitting in front of a fenced-in compound ringed with barbed wire.
Another lawsuit was filed on Friday, relating to the camp, in U.S. District Court Northern District by a Homestead man, Joshua-Michael Van Schaick, and names DeSantis, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, Florida Department of Management Services, U.S. Homeland Security and ICE.
The suit seeks to stop development of the detention camp on the site. No further court date has been set.
A Change.org petition opposed to the center has grown since it was started, surging to nearly 9,000 signatures in just 24 hours. The petition criticizes the plan to detain up to 5,000 migrants at the remote Dade-Collier Airport site, raising alarms about environmental harm, medical access, and treatment of migrants.
The former president’s comparison to a system that could expand nationwide has sparked fresh concern—and intensified interest in the implications of such a precedent in federal immigration policy and land use.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you. The Associated Press contributed to this report.