President Donald Trump visited a new immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday for what’s expected to be the site’s official opening, showcasing what critics are condemning as an inhumane makeshift prison camp and what supporters are embracing as a national model for aggressively ramping up detention and deportation efforts.
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Florida officials have raced to erect the compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings in a matter of days, as part of the state’s muscular efforts to help carry out Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials, the facility is located at an isolated airfield about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami and is surrounded by swamps filled with mosquitoes, pythons and alligators.
To Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials, locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent, and naming it after the notorious federal prison, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It’s another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.
The @myflhouse and @FLSenate have agreed to keep Florida's $5,000 recruitment bonuses for LEOs around.
— Jake Stofan (@JakeStofan) June 5, 2025
The chambers agreed to fund the program at $10 million, half of what @GovRonDeSantis had requested, and $7 million less than last year's funding level.@ActionNewsJax
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State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and “guarded” by alligators wearing hats labeled “ICE” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded t-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility’s name.
“There’s really nowhere to go. If you’re housed there, if you’re detained there, there’s no way in, no way out,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in an interview with conservative media commentator Benny Johnson.
Here’s what to know.
Trump to visit Tuesday
DeSantis confirmed on Monday that Trump will attend what’s expected to be the official opening of the facility, which is estimated to cost $450 million a year. The expenses are to be incurred by Florida and reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a U.S. official said.
“When the president comes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to see,” DeSantis told reporters. He added that “I think by tomorrow, it’ll be ready for business.”
The governor, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination last year, said he spoke with Trump over the weekend. He also said the site obtained approval from the Department of Homeland Security.
The site’s remoteness hasn’t stopped hundreds of environmentalists and immigrant advocates from coming to protest what they say is a cruel political stunt that will threaten the treasured and ecologically sensitive wetlands.
State officials say the installation, which could ultimately house 5,000 detainees, is critical to support Trump’s mass deportation agenda, which has pushed detentions to a record-high, totaling more than 56,000 immigrants in June, the most since 2019.
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Florida is using emergency powers to build the site
State officials have commandeered the land using emergency powers, under a years-old executive order issued by DeSantis during the administration of then-President Joe Biden to respond to what the governor deemed a crisis caused by illegal immigration.
Relying on the emergency order, the state has fast-tracked the project, sidestepping laws and regulations in what critics have called an abuse of power.
The order grants sweeping authority to the state’s head of emergency management, Kevin Guthrie, including the power to suspend “any statute, rule, or order” seen as slowing the response to the emergency, and the ability to place select law enforcement personnel from across the state under his “direct command and coordination.”
“Governor DeSantis has insisted that the state of Florida, under his leadership, will facilitate the federal government in enforcing immigration law,” a DeSantis spokesperson said in a statement.
“Florida will continue to lead on immigration enforcement.”
Environmentalists and immigrant advocates protest
Protestors are expected to gather at the site again on Tuesday, prompting one prominent Indigenous leader to urge nonviolence.
“Those planning to show up tomorrow seeking to cause chaos, violence and/or any type of action that is going to hurt or harm others, are NOT welcome,” Miccosukee tribal member Betty Osceola posted on social media on Monday. “The Miccosukee and Seminole live out here, they will have to live with the consequences of your actions.”
Hundreds of immigrant advocates, environmental activists and Native Americans defending their ancestral homelands lined the highway near the airstrip to protest Saturday.
As dump trucks hauling construction materials lumbered into the airfield, protesters waved signs calling for the protection of the expansive preserve as passing cars honked in support.
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