The state of Florida this week began building a new immigration detention center, dubbed "Alcatraz with alligators," in the middle of the Everglades swamps, against the backdrop of the anti-immigration offensive that the administration of President Donald Trump has launched since the tycoon returned to power in January.
The location chosen, an abandoned airport in the Everglades National Park, a Florida ecosystem unique in the world, will be able to accommodate at least 1.000 migrants, state Attorney General James Attmeyer said last week via X.
"This area of approximately 77.000 acres is surrounded by the Everglades and offers an effective opportunity, not particularly expensive, to build a temporary detention center, as it is not necessary to invest much in the perimeter," he said in a video presenting the area.
The new detention center will begin receiving migrants within "30 to 60 days from the start of its construction," according to the official.
"It is expected to cost around $450 million a year to operate, but the state could seek federal funding," Trisha McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told local media.
"The transformation of the Everglades into a taxpayer-funded immigration detention center is a grotesque mix of inhumanity and political theater," commented Alex Howard, who worked at DHS during the Biden presidency (2021-2025), in statements to the Miami Herald newspaper.
The Friends of the Everglades organization, for its part, denounced the "unacceptable and unnecessary risk" to the ecosystem of more than 2.000 species of flora and fauna in a letter to Governor DeSantis.
Source: KYPE