O’Copy, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said the new immigration detention center in the remote Florida Everglades, surrounded by swamps full of alligators, could be a model for future projects as his administration competes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportation.
The facility Trump toured on Tuesday has quickly become a symbol of the president’s border crackdown. The immigrants may begin to arrive there shortly after his visit. This includes walking through a medical facility with temporary cubicles as an area of treatment.
The detention center, assembled on a remote runway with tents and trailers normally used after a natural disaster, is called “Alligator Alcatraz,” a moniker who is wary of immigration activists but appeals to a proactive approach to the deportation of Republican presidents.
“This is not a great business,” Trump said as he left the White House. He then joked.
“Don’t run straight, I’ll run like this,” he moved his hands in a zigzag motion. “And what do you know? Your chances will rise by about 1%.”
But that doesn’t seem to be healthy advice. According to a website run by the University of Florida, when a crocodile is chasing, it’s best to dash in one direction in rare circumstances.
Prior to Trump’s arrival, local governments were placed by the runway entrance. Media vans and other vehicles were parked along a highway lined with Cypress trees.
Protesters gathered near the facility about 50 miles (80.47 km) west of Miami. Officials originally proposed that it could accommodate up to 5,000 detainees, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who joined Trump on Tuesday’s tour, said he could soon actually prepare 3,000 people.
Critics say that it has potential impact on sensitive ecosystems and that Trump is trying to send a cruel message to immigrants — while some Native American leaders have opposed the construction, saying the land is sacred.
“I have a lot of immigrants I’ve worked with. They’re amazing people. They don’t deserve to be jailed here,” said Phyllis Andrews, a retired teacher who drove from Naples, Florida on Tuesday to protest Trump’s visit. “It’s awful that their heads have blessings.”
The president’s supporters also appeared. “Trump was right about everything,” he said, wearing a hat.
A key selling point for the Trump administration is the remoteness of the site and the fact that it lies in a swamp filled with mosquitoes, pithons and crocodiles. It hopes to convey a message to detainees and the rest of the world if US immigration laws do not comply with.
“There’s only one path to connect, and the only way is by flying in one way,” said White House press chief Carolyn Leavitt. “It’s isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and relentless terrain.”
The US-Mexico border and crackdown on harsh immigration policies has long been central to Trump’s political brand. During his first term in 2019, Trump denied reports that he had come to the idea of creating a moat filled with crocodiles at the southern border. “I may be tough on border security, but it’s not that tough,” he posted at the time.
In his second term, Trump suggested that his administration could resume Alcatraz, a prison on the infamous island off the coast of San Francisco. The White House similarly promoted the politically shocking value of sending immigrants awaiting deportation from the United States to detention lockup in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay and sending others to MegaPrison in El Salvador.
Some ideas are unrealistic. For example, turning Alcatraz from a tourist attraction to a prison is very expensive, with Guantanamo Bay being less used than the initially anticipated administrative authorities.
However, the new Everglades detention centers gathered quickly. Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem recently told The Associated Press that he feels that some contractors are charging too many bills to run the facility.
Florida officials were “are willing to build it and do it much faster than some of the other vendors,” she said. “And being able to use it when needed was a real solution.”
David Jolly, a former Republican from Florida, is a former Republican currently running for governor as a Democrat, calling the facility a “ruthless political stunt.”
U.S. immigrants and customs enforcement detainees are generally held for reasons such as illegal entry or entering countries that have passed their visas. They either place the ice on their next flight, wait for the bus to board, or fight the removal at immigration court.
If an immigrant is accused of a violent crime or commits a crime, he or she is tried and held in state or federal criminal jurisdiction, separate from the immigration system. In such cases, they may be transferred to ice for deportation after completing their criminal sentence.
While state officials are leading the way in building the Florida facility, much of the cost is covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, best known for dealing with hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Florida Attorney General James Usmierer, who had been recognized by Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem as the architect of the Everglades Project, debuted the proposal for the first time with a smoothly produced video with red-eyed crocodile and custom graphics with hard rock soundtracks.
The Department of Homeland Security posted an image of a crocodile sitting in an ice hat and in front of a fenced compound that rang out of barbed wire.
The Florida Republican sells branded T-shirts and beverage container sleeves and raises funds from the facility. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who challenged Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also plays the fact that the site is difficult to get away with.
“When they’re there, they won’t go anywhere unless they want to go somewhere. “So security is amazing.”
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Wysert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Kate Payne of Tallahassee, Florida, Elliot Spagut of San Diego, and Chris Megarian of Washington contributed to the report.
