President Trump’s new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant detention facility has admitted its first detainees, amid warnings of flooding in the area where it was built.
Footage taken by NBC Miami on Thursday shows what appear to be two handcuffed detainees being escorted into the facility, located deep in the Florida Everglades.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management and the office of Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed the first group of migrants arrived at the center this week.
‘Next stop: back to where they came from,’ read an X post by Florida attorney general James Uthmeier, who has been credited as the architect behind the center.
The detainees arrived at the facility just as concerns grew over flooding caused by thunderstorms.
The facility is located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening.
State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph, and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred.
The first group of immigrants has arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
President Donald Trump listens as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of “Alligator Alcatraz on Tuesday
The detainees arrived at the facility just as concerns grew over flooding caused by thunderstorms this week
DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent.
The Everglades is home to millions of alligators, meaning any migrants who escape will likely find themselves vulnerable to the apex predators.
DeSantis named the facility after the notorious federal prison built on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which was considered inescapable thanks to its position surrounded by the icy and shark-filled waters of San Francisco Bay.
According to images shared with the AP, overnight Wednesday, workers put up new signs labeled ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ along the sole highway leading to the site and outside the entrance of the airfield that has been known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
State officials seized the county-owned land where the facility is located using emergency powers authorized by an executive order issued by the governor.
The facility, at an airport used for training, will have an initial capacity of about 3,000 detainees, according to governor Ron DeSantis said.
It will apparently be staffed by about 1,000 people.
The center was built in eight days and features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security personnel.
A loader holds a sign reading “Alligator Alcatraz” in its bucket as workers install it at the entrance to a new migrant detention facility in Florida
DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent
Immigrants who are arrested by Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government’s 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to an official in President Donald Trump’s administration.
The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.
The facility is expected to be expanded in 500 bed increments until it has an estimated 5,000 beds by early July.
A group of Florida Democratic state lawmakers headed to the facility Thursday to conduct ‘an official legislative site visit,’ citing concerns about conditions for detainees and the awarding of millions of dollars in state contracts for the construction.
