First group of detained immigrants is now in “Alcatraz of the Alligators”

“The Alcatraz of Alligators will be checking in hundreds of criminal illegal aliens tonight,” Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier said on the social network X on Wednesday. “Next stop: back to where they came from,” he said, referring to their deportation from the United States.

The center was set up in just eight days on an airstrip in the Everglades swamp region.

It has more than 200 security cameras, more than 8,500 meters of barbed wire and 400 security agents.

US President Donald Trump attended the inauguration of the detention center on Tuesday, joking that immigrants who try to escape from the facility run the risk of being attacked by wild animals. When asked by reporters whether the purpose of the immigrant detention center was to prevent immigrants from escaping and being attacked by reptiles, Donald Trump replied: “That’s the concept.”

“Snakes are fast, but alligators (…). Let’s teach them how to run away from an alligator, okay?” Trump said jokingly.

State officials said the “Alcatraz of Alligators,” a facility they described as temporary, would feature tents and trailers, allowing the state to add 5,000 immigration detention beds by early July and free up space in local jails.

As in other similar centers in the country, authorities intend to temporarily detain illegal immigrants while they await deportation from the country.

The name Alcatraz refers to the historic prison off the Californian city of San Francisco, on a rock in the sea where some of the country's worst criminals were sent for decades.

For Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials, the airfield's isolation in the Everglades, surrounded by wetlands teeming with mosquitoes, venomous snakes and alligators that are considered sacred to Native American tribes, makes it an ideal place to detain illegal immigrants.

“Clearly from a security standpoint, if someone escapes, you know, there are a lot of alligators,” said DeSantis, who was one of Donald Trump’s main rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.