Erected in the space of eight days on the grounds of an old airstrip, Alligator Alcatraz is part of a detention system that represents a core element of President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration enforcement strategy. The facility is designed to hold some 5,000 detainees, under grim conditions in a remote swath of wetlands. Its name is a nod to both the dangerous reptiles whose Everglades population numbers upwards of 200,000 and the former island prison off the coast of San Francisco that housed some of the most notorious criminals in US history. The latter was legendary for its inescapability.
The first group of immigrant detainees arrived at the facility about three weeks ago. In comments from the Alligator Alcatraz site on Friday, DeSantis said several hundred detainees had been deported from the facility by DHS.
He added that Florida is working on establishing makeshift courtrooms in a bid to increase the efficiency of Trump’s mass deportation efforts. “I want [there to be] aggressive processing and an aggressive deportation schedule… We look forward to hopefully being able to get the approval for immigration judges to be on-site [at Alligator Alcatraz],” he said.
Environmental groups filed suit against the state and various federal actors late last month to challenge the legality of the unconventional detention site. The lawsuit alleges that federal and state authorities violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct required environmental reviews before constructing the facility in an ecologically sensitive area that serves as habitat for endangered species.
Since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has pursued an unprecedented and aggressive immigration enforcement strategy, marked by mass arrests, questionable due process protections, and deportations to countries that the arrested individuals lack any connection to. A recent DHS release announced the deportations of eight men to South Sudan. Of the eight, two were from Cuba, one was from Laos, one was from Mexico, two were from Myanmar, and one was from Vietnam. Only one of the eight was a South Sudan national.
Despite campaign promises that focused on shoring up immigration enforcement against hardened criminals, his administration’s approach has proven far more expansive. Recent polling reveals that US voters across the political spectrum have softened on immigration in the first six months of the second Trump presidency. Overall, the proportion of US adults who see immigration as a good thing reached a record high of 79%, while those who see it as a bad thing hit a record low of 17%, according to Gallup. The number of Republicans wishing to see decreased immigration is down 40 percentage points from last year’s high of 88%.
