Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, recently proposed that the state create a new detention center for illegal immigrants at an old airport surrounded by the Everglades. Uthmeier suggested that the detention center could be called “Alligator Alcatraz.”
In a Thursday video shared on X, formerly Twitter, Uthmeier told Florida’s Voice that the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility, which he described as an “old, virtually abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades,” could be transformed into an illegal immigrant detention center.
“Florida’s been leading on immigration enforcement, supporting the Trump administration and ICE efforts to detain and deport criminal aliens,” Uthmeier stated. “The governor tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities. I think this is the best one, as I call it, ‘Alligator Alcatraz.'”
“This 30-square-mile area is completely surrounded by the Everglades,” Uthemeier added. “[It] presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out. There’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
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Uthmeier explained that if the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility was approved as a new detention facility for illegal immigrants, the facility could be “up and running” within a period of 30 to 60 days.
The Florida attorney general explained in the video that “Alligator Alcatraz” could hold up to 1,000 “criminal aliens” if it is approved as an immigration detention facility.
Uthmeier added that the facility could be ready to go in 30 to 60 days. Fox Business reported that the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility would be Florida’s largest detention facility for illegal immigrants if it is approved.
“This presents a great opportunity for the state of Florida to work with Miami-Dade and Collier counties,” Uthmeier concluded in the video. “Alligator Alcatraz – we’re ready to go.”
