The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has approved the construction of a new immigrant detention facility in Florida, informally dubbed āAlligator Alcatraz,ā according to a report by The New York Times.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier initially pitched the idea to turn the āvirtually abandoned Miami-Dade Collier Training Facilityā into a detention center to house illegal aliens, which would be guarded by āalligators and pythons.ā
āI think this is the best one. I call it āAlligator Alcatraz.ā This 30 square mile area is completely surrounded by the Everglades ā presents an efficient, low cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you donāt need to invest that much in the perimeter,ā he said. If detainees were to escape, āthereās not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.ā
Per the New York Times, the facility would be ācomposed of large tents, and other planned facilities will cost the state around $450 million a year to run.ā The outlet added: āThe remote facility, composed of large tents, and other planned facilities will cost the state around $450 million a year to run, but Florida can request some reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.ā
In a post on X, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the ānew facilitiesā for housing criminal illegal aliens would be ālargely fundedā through the Federal Emergency Management Agencyās (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program.
āUnder President Trumpās leadership, we are working at turbo speed to deliver cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American peopleās mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,ā Noem wrote. āWe will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.ā
āThese new facilities will in large part be funded by FEMAās Shelter and Services Program, which the Biden administration used as a piggy bank to spend hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars to house illegal aliens, including at the Roosevelt Hotel that served as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to shelter Laken Rileyās killer,ā NoemĀ continued.
āIām proud to help support President Trump and Secretary Noem in their mission to fix our illegal immigration problem once and for all,ā Uthmeier wrote in a post on X. āAlligator Alcatraz and other Florida facilities will do just that.ā
