Of all the deterrents that could have been chosen in the United States’ war to secure its borders against illegal immigration, internment in a detention facility surrounded by python and alligator-infested waters is one that was never going to escape controversy.
Dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, the immigration detention facility which has been hastily erected at the site of the ‘Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport’ in the heart of the Florida wetlands, was announced publicly last month in an attempt to relieve the burden on law enforcement conducting immigration-related enforcement measures.
Since the announcement, construction of the facility has been fast-tracked, with the first batch of immigration-related detainees processed at the facility on the 3rd of July. Eventually the facility, which is being secured by the National Guard, will have the capacity to hold around three thousand detainees.
The move is part of a crackdown on illegal immigration and human trafficking by the second Trump administration, which was a core part of the President’s re-election campaign during the 2024 Presidential election, as well as during his previous election campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
According to some estimates, there are up to 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, which has implications for national security, as well as raising concerns for the economy and black-market employment, as well as concerns about sovereignty, with many illegal immigrants believed to have voted illegally in recent elections.
These concerns, as well as those concerning violent gangs such as the notorious MS-13 operating across the southern border, as well as those regarding human trafficking and the importation of illegal drugs, have all contributed to the high priority of immigration enforcement in the United States.
The controversial Florida detention facility is just one of many immigration-related initiatives being rolled out by the Trump administration and by Republican-led states such as Florida, which is being governed by Ron DeSantis, in an attempt to take back America’s immigration sovereignty.
The use of man-eating reptiles as a psychological deterrent to those who are unlawfully residing in the United States and who are at risk of being detained in such a facility however, is being touted by critics as a form of ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ in direct contravention of the constitution.
In addition to the usual open-borders advocates and Democrat Party sympathisers, critics of the Florida detention centre also include environmental groups, who are citing concerns over the potential impacts the facility may have on the surrounding environment.
According to Eve Samples of the organisation ‘Friends of the Everglades’, which has initiated a lawsuit in conjunction with the ‘Centre for Biological Diversity’ and the ‘Miccosukee Tribe of Indians’ in order to seek an environmental review of the project, “this area used to be some of the best dark skies in the southeastern United States, now it looks like a stadium is out where this detention centre is”.
In response to the lawsuit however, the Florida Governor’s office has insisted that, “…this facility is a necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a pre-existing airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment”.
In a recent interview with media, Samples commented that “there’s a reason that federal law requires government to look before it leaps, to make sure that its actions are not negatively impacting the environment.”
“Under the National Environmental Protection Act, government has to conduct an environmental impact analysis. So if the Governor would like to assert that, that’s fine, let’s see the proof, let’s conduct this analysis. And we’ve asked a judge to issue an injunction, so that the activity at the site can be halted while we see what the impacts are in the environment.” she said.
The site of the detention facility sits in proximity to the Everglades National Park, a wetlands area which is recognised internationally for its environmental significance, having also been recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The Everglades were almost drained completely in the late nineteenth century in order to facilitate agricultural and residential expansion, until intervention by environmental advocates pushed for the protection of these rapidly shrinking wetlands.
Environmentalists concerned about the preservation of these wetlands however, may have nothing to fear, with the Everglades being one swamp that President Donald Trump has no intention of draining. Rather, it is precisely the preservation of the python and alligator-infested marshes, which is part of the novelty surrounding the project.
Weighing in on the survival chances for escapees from the facility during a recent appearance before the media ahead of a visit to the facility, the President observed that they would have better chances if they were to run side to side instead of in a straight line.
“We’re gonna teach them how to run away from an alligator okay, if they escape prison, how to run away, don’t run in a straight line, run like this, and you know what, your chances go up about 1%.” the President said, waving his arm from side to side.
And the novelty is not lost on the Republican support base either, with ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ merchandise starting to show up alongside ‘Gulf of America’ and similar themed souvenirs on the official Florida Republican Party online store.
Already, a second immigration-related incarceration facility is being tabled in Florida, some 400 miles north of the existing facility at Camp Blanding, a Florida National Guard Base, which could house an additional 2,000 detainees at a time.
The second facility marks a determined effort at achieving zero tolerance for immigration-related crime in the United States. And this effort is being fought on both sides of the border, with El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele recently being celebrated for the incarceration of between ten and twenty thousand prisoners, including illegal American deportees and members of the notorious MS-13, in the purpose-built ‘Centre for Terrorism Confinement’.
As the war to secure the United State’s borders continues, more purpose-built detention facilities such as these can be expected to emerge at short notice – with or without the man-eating alligators.
Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” allocates $170 billion toward enforcement and detention. $45 billion for 100,000–125,000 ICE detention beds over four years. Hiring of 10,000 ICE agents, plus thousands of additional enforcement personnel. With this spending, ICE becomes the largest domestic police force in America surpassing even the FBI. The massive funding allocates the building of remote camps that will be built quickly, with little oversight, deepening a system of state control. These spaces lie off-grid, often inaccessible and out of sight, (ex. Alligator Alley). No legal recourse, no transparency.
During WWII, the Nazis built their camps quietly, often claiming they were labor or relocation facilities. The Nazis used the same propaganda which they are using today to justify them, “public safety,” “national security,” “economic efficiency.” The Nazi’s enlisted public’s support through fear, nationalism, and economic despair, and they got people to fund it through taxes, war bonds, and blind allegiance. Different flags…. same beast. These are modern concentration camps, being built in plain sight. A new gestapo is rising, digitized, deputized, and desensitized. The true criminals always sit in power and are now building the cages, with your money, preparing to contain you.
Exactly !!
What are you on, Bro?
Their country has been overrun with immigration (legal and illegal) for the better part of two decades now. Crime is through the roof, basic rent/medical etc is almost unaffordable, their cities are rotting with drugs and urban decay, and all their political class cares about is more and more and more unlimited forever migration. Exactly the same as Europe and the UK (and HERE, frankly).
The increased funding for ICE, the new facilities being built, the exclusions of illegals from Medicaid and social services etc are all things that natural born Americans have been begging their successive governments for for decades now. All the Americans I know and talk to are utterly thrilled that they’re finally being listened to. Read the room, dude.
“OMG this is exactly like the nazis 😱”
Remember how a couple years ago they basically made us prisoners in our own homes for two years, shut down our businesses, ignored our bill of rights and got their judges to say it was okay, demanded we show passports to enter restaurants and businesses, and tried to force us all to take an experimental Gene therapy that nobody needed? Notice how absolutely literally NOBODY has been punished for it yet?
Trump building a prison for illegals who frankly DESERVE to be incarcerated is hardly comparable.
Think before you say something stupid
A POLICE STATE RISING. Facial recognition and AI surveillance in every city, social scoring systems silently forming, Militarized police with battlefield gear patrolling American streets, Concentration camps. Political prisoners. Censorship as “protection.” Unlimited government spending to fund war, not the people.
The illusion of choice while all roads lead to control.
Got a better idea?