Florida Seizes Everglades Land To Build Detention Center, Critics Call It ‘Alligator Alcatraz'

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Days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted a video to X  calling for a proposed immigrant detention facility at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport — a remote and little-used airstrip near the Everglades — Gov. Ron DeSantis' office announced the state would use emergency powers to take control of the land away from Miami-Dade County to create "Alligator Alcatraz."

"Time is of the essence," FDEM director Kevin Guthrie wrote to Cava. "We must act swiftly to ensure readiness and continuity in our statewide operations to assist the federal government with immigration enforcement."

The plan was met with pushback from environmentalists, conservationists and Florida residents.

Local advocates have organized a protest , and Miccosukee tribal leadership has asked the state to move the immigration detention site away from tribal homelands.

Cava said in a statement that the critical location required "considerable review and due diligence" as the "impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating." Her office said the county sent a letter listing multiple concerns about the project.

On June 19, Uthmeier posted a video to X suggesting that the "virtually abandoned" Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airport facility with a 10,500-foot runway, could be easily converted into a temporary immigrant detention center to aid in Florida's efforts to locate and deport "criminal aliens."

"I call it Alligator Alcatraz," he said, over a pounding rock beat.

"It's 30 square-mile-area is completely surrounded by the Everglades. 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. People get out, there's not much waiting for 'em other than alligators and pythons.

"Alligator Alcatraz" should be ready to receive detainees with 5,000 beds as soon as the first week of July, Uthmeier told controversial commentator Benny Johnson on June 23. He also said the facility is intended to be temporary.