(José Niño, Headline USA) Florida’s latest immigration crackdown is taking a wild turn, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) approved a $450 million Everglades detention facility guarded by the Everglades’ fiercest wildlife.
According to a report by The Hill, this detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials, will be built at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Everglades. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who assumed office in February 2025 after serving as Governor Ron DeSantis’s chief of staff, initially proposed converting the “virtually abandoned Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility” into a detention center on Monday.
The facility will be located on a 30-square-mile area completely surrounded by the Everglades, with Uthmeier stating it “presents an efficient, low cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter.” The attorney general emphasized the natural security barrier, noting that if detainees escape, “there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.”
The remote location sits approximately 36 miles from Miami’s business center and just 6 miles from Everglades National Park.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the facilities would be “in large part be funded by” the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, which Congress originally created to support communities receiving migrants and asylum-seekers released from federal custody.
Noem declared, “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed to deliver cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens.”
The facility is expected to cost approximately $450 million annually to operate, though Florida can request federal reimbursement, per a report by BBC.
Construction has recently started, with Uthmeier announcing that federal approval came after meeting with Border Czar Tom Homan. According to WPTV, detention center will consist of “heavy-duty tent facilities” and “trailer facilities” designed to house up to 1,000 detainees initially, with plans to expand capacity to 5,000 beds across multiple Florida facilities by early July.
