This aerial photo shows heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings being built by the state for an immigration detention facility at the Miami Dade County-owned airfield in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles west of downtown Miami, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin, File)
Deep in the Florida Everglades, the latest illegal immigration detention and deportation facility opened for business on July 1, eight days after state officials said work began.
A cluster of temporary structures large enough to hold up to 3,000 illegal immigrants and 1,000 staff members now stands next to a runway 10,499 feet long and 150 feet wide. The facility was paid for largely by the Department of Homeland Security.
“Think about what you have here,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a roundtable at the facility’s opening on July 1. ”They come here, say they have already been ordered to be deported. You drive them 2,000 feet to the runway, and they’re gone.
“It’s a one-stop shop, and this airport that’s been here for a long time is the perfect secure location. It’s going to make a big difference.”
Photo: President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable at “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla., as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, looks on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, celebrated the opening as yet another example of Florida’s “logistical expertise” to rapidly respond to an emergency, adapting what they learned from rebuilding infrastructure after hurricanes to this project.
DeSantis declared a state of emergency regarding illegal immigration earlier this year, granting Guthrie emergency powers to take over the airfield from Miami-Dade County and kickstart the construction.
“There are over 13 different vendors that came together to get this solved in eight days, truly a whole of private sector partnership to get that done,” Guthrie said during the roundtable. ”Behind you on these boards, in only eight days, we have built a fully compliant detention facility with a detainee capacity of up to 3,000 people, with room for additional capacity, if you asked us to do so, the detention includes over 158,000 square feet of housing, and it’s a fully aluminum frame structure rated for winds of 110 miles an hour, or a high-end Category 2.”
The facility is also equipped with a staff village, redundant power systems, air conditioning, the capacity to serve three hot meals a day, a 24/7 medical facility, pharmacy, laundry, legal and clergy support, and indoor and outdoor recreation yards.
Dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the facility is positioned off Highway 41 more than 50 miles west of downtown Miami, surrounded by more than 28,000 feet of barbed wire and more than 10 miles of the Everglades. The facility has more than 400 security personnel, including 200 men and women of the Florida National Guard under the command of Maj. Gen. John Haas, and more than 200 security cameras.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier calls it Alligator Alcatraz because of its natural barrier. While San Francisco’s Alcatraz is an actual island the Florida version will be a blacktop island surrounded by a swamp teeming with American alligators and other escape-deterring wildlife.
Officially known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, the site was built in the early 1970s within the boundaries of the Big Cypress National Preserve.
According to the National Parks Service, that preserve is home to about 30,000 alligators. There is also a population of American crocodiles, the invasive Burmese pythons—which have been known to eat alligators—venomous native snakes such as the dusky pigmy rattlesnake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, eastern coral snake, and the Florida cottonmouth, and more than 30 documented Florida panthers. Spiders, mosquitoes, and other insects, as well as varieties of poisonous plants, are also common.
“We like the idea of reopening the original Alcatraz,” Uthmeier said. ”I don’t know if that can happen or not, but we thought, ‘Hey, we’ve got our own natural Alcatraz in the middle of the Everglades, great runway, great, great perimeter. So let’s, let’s make it happen.’”
They were also joined by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who, along with praising Florida’s work, urged illegal immigrants to use the Customs and Border Protection Home App to self-deport back home on the federal government’s dime.
DeSantis affirmed Noem’s offer.
“Why would you want to come through Alligator Alcatraz if you can just go home on your own?” he asked. ”I think a lot of people are going to make that decision.”
Alligator Alcatraz is one of two detention sites opening in Florida, with room for 2,000 illegal immigrants at Camp Blanding, as the Sunshine State seeks to meet its goal of being able to detain 5,000 deportation-bound foreign nationals.
While the governor’s office maintains that no additional permanent development of the site will be made, several environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in hopes of at least delaying the site’s opening until a more stringent environmental review can be undertaken.
