WATCH: A Look into ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Illegal Alien Detention Facility
America is getting a first look into “Alligator Alcatraz” — the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility approved by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to house, process, and deport criminal illegal aliens — as President Donald Trump makes a visit on the day of its grand opening.
A video shows the inside of the facility — finished in just over a week — with bed after bed lined up across the structure.
President Donald Trump has since arrived to the area, greeted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“…don’t let Florida be the only state — we’ve got very red states that should be doing this just as much as Florida is doing that will increase their numbers,” DeSantis said as Trump nodded along in agreement.
“And then what happens is, you’ll have a lot of people that will deport on their own because they don’t want to end up in an Alligator Alcatraz or some of those other places. So we think this is a model, but we need other states to step up,” DeSantis added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previewed Trump’s visit during Monday’s press conference.
“The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as Alligator Alcatraz. There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” she said, noting that it has “up to 5,000 beds to house, process, and deport criminal illegal aliens.”
Trump is expected to hold a round table on Alligator Alcatraz shortly.
‘Alligator Alcatraz’: What to know about Florida’s new controversial migrant detention facility
An Everglades ‘Alcatraz’
Trump has long been enamored with the idea of reopening Alcatraz, the famed island prison just off the San Francisco Bay known for being virtually inescapable.
Now, Florida officials aim to open their own Alcatraz, at least temporarily.
An unassuming airstrip, once built to serve supersonic jets but quickly relegated to a training facility, thrummed with activity Monday as tractor trailers unloaded supplies and construction crews worked in the thick humidity to finish building the detention facility.
“Alligator-Alcatraz,” according to the governor’s office, is designed to be “completely self-contained.” Migrants will be housed in repurposed FEMA trailers and “soft-sided temporary facilities,” a Department of Homeland Security official told CNN.
The same tents are often used to house those displaced by natural disasters, like hurricanes, DeSantis’ office said. Indeed, they will provide the only shelter from the elements, as temperatures soar into the 90s and powerful storms move across the Everglades.
State officials said they are developing evacuation plans for the facility in the event of severe weather, during what forecasters said may be a busy hurricane season.
The facility as currently built has “a detainee capacity of up to 3,000 people with room for additional capacity,” Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie said in a roundtable Tuesday alongside Trump.
The DHS official, however, told CNN the facility is expected to be able to house up to 5,000 beds – figures similar to those shared previously by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Utilities like water, sewage and power will be provided by mobile equipment, according to the governor’s office.
During a tour of the site for Fox News last week, DeSantis pointed out a number of large portable air conditioning units he said will be used to cool structures on the site.
DeSantis stressed the facility is both temporary and necessary to alleviate burdens on the state’s law enforcement agencies and jails, which have seen an influx in migrants amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The governor added he hopes the facility will be a “force multiplier” in the administration’s increasing efforts to detain and deport undocumented migrants.