Trump to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ for grand opening of swampy Everglades detention center for illegal aliens

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defends detention center as necessary to lock up ‘worst scumbags’ who illegally entered the US under former President Joe Biden

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the mission behind a new ICE detention facility in the Everglades as construction begins on ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’

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President Donald Trump will head to Florida Tuesday for the official opening of an immigration detention camp in the Everglades that is surrounded by alligators, aptly dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.

“We have the president of the United States coming down tomorrow to tout what Florida has done,” DeSantis said at a Monday news conference, according to the Miami Herald.

“I think by tomorrow it will be open for business,” he added.

DeSantis authorized the construction of an illegal immigrant detention center on a 30-square-mile property in the Everglades’ swamplands of Miami–Dade County under an emergency order. The property is a former airport that has been outfitted with sturdy tent structures to house 5,000 illegal immigrants amid the Trump administration’s deportation blitz to remove the millions of illegal migrants who flooded the nation during the Biden administration.

A drone view shows the area surrounding the construction site of the state’s forthcoming “Alligator Alcatraz” ICE detention center at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport as people rally against it in Ochopee, Florida, June 28, 2025. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

The detention center earned its name due to its location in the heart of the Everglades, which is home to massive reptiles such as alligators and pythons.

“This is an airport that’s already there,” DeSantis said Wednesday during an event with the media. “Clearly, from a security perspective, if someone escapes, you know, there are a lot of alligators you’re going to have to contend with. No one’s going anywhere once you do that. It’s a safe and secure as can be.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump’s trip Monday, touting the detention center as “an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.”

“Tomorrow, President Trump will travel to the great state of Florida to attend the opening of a new illegal alien detention center located at Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport alongside Secretary Kristi Noem, Governor Ron DeSantis, Congressman Byron Donalds and other state and local leaders,” Leavitt said Monday during the White House press briefing.

“The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ There is only one road leading in and … the only way out is a one-way flight,” she continued. “It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens. This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.”

Environmentalists and Democrats have come out against the detention center, including lining up along Highway 41, which runs through the Everglades, to protest its construction Saturday. Protesters held signs declaring, “Another stupid plan to abuse people & the Everglades,” “No Alligator Alcatraz” or signs demanding ICE is pushed “out of Florida,” photos show.

Various federal and state agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security and Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, were additionally hit with a lawsuit Friday spearheaded by a pair of environmentalist groups that claim the detention facility will disrupt and threaten the Everglades ecosystem, the Associated Press reported.

A drone view shows the construction site of the state’s forthcoming “Alligator Alcatraz” ICE detention center at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport as people rally against it in Ochopee, Florida, on June 28, 2025. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

“The state of Florida is all in on President Trump’s mission,” DeSantis said on a tour of the facility Friday on “Fox & Friends.” “There needs to be more ability to intake, process and deport.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also endorsed the detention center as an ideal facility for “some of the worst scumbags” who illegally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference on immigration enforcement at Homestead Air Force Base on Feb. 26, in Homestead, Florida. (Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press)

“Alligator Alcatraz, and other facilities like it, will give us the capability to lock up some of the worst scumbags who entered our country under the previous administration. I will continue to stand alongside our officers as they protect and defend our homeland. Make America Safe,” Noem posted to X Friday.