Florida to Receive Federal Funds for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center in Everglades

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The Biden-era FEMA shelter program is funding a controversial project by Florida to build a sprawling immigration detention center deep in the Everglades. Dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, the facility is already drawing heavy fire from environmental groups, tribal leaders, and state officials caught off guard by its rapid development.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Monday that the federal government will help bankroll Florida’s plan to detain up to 5,000 migrants. The project will use FEMA’s shelter and services program, created by Congress to support border communities receiving asylum-seekers, to cover most of the center’s estimated $450 million annual operating costs.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared an immigration emergency during the Biden administration and has extended it under President Trump. State officials say the Everglades site will assist Trump’s mass deportation push by expanding detention capacity near the Gulf Coast.

Alligator Alcatraz: Inside the Everglades Detention Plan

The chosen site is an abandoned airfield, located roughly 45 miles west of Miami, surrounded by wetlands. The airstrip was part of the canceled Everglades Jetport project from the 1970s.

Attorney General James Uthmeier, a close DeSantis ally, described the isolated location as ideal. “There’s nowhere to go. If you’re housed there, there’s no way in, no way out,” Uthmeier told conservative commentator Benny Johnson. He claimed any escape attempts would be deterred by the alligators and pythons that inhabit the surrounding wetlands.

Uthmeier also confirmed the detention center could become operational within days. FEMA trailers and tents will be brought in to house workers and detainees. The state insists no permanent construction will take place during the declared emergency.

Despite the urgency, the project blindsided local officials. Miami-Dade County owns the airstrip but was notified only hours before the state took control. Collier County leaders, whose jurisdiction covers most of the site, also say they were excluded from the decision.

Environmental, Legal, and Community Pushback Builds

Opposition has been swift and widespread. The Miccosukee Tribe condemned the project for infringing on ancestral lands. “Rather than Miccosukee homelands being a wasteland for alligators and pythons, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands,” said Tribal Chair Talbert Cypress.

Environmental groups warn the plan threatens fragile Everglades ecosystems. Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said over 4,000 people have signed petitions opposing the facility. She called the waste management plan “back of the envelope” and questioned the claim that the detention center is temporary.

Even within state politics, questions loom. Legislators said they were not consulted despite the project’s multimillion-dollar costs. Critics also highlight Florida’s ongoing struggles with understaffed and deteriorating prisons.

Alligator Alcatraz Will Keep Florida Safe, Strong, Free

Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democratic congressman from central Florida, denounced the plan as inhumane. “These detention centers contain conditions that are nothing short of human rights abuses,” he said, pointing to overcrowding and lack of medical care in similar facilities.

The DeSantis administration remains defiant. A spokesperson for Uthmeier said the state is proud to support Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, calling Alligator Alcatraz part of a broader mission to “keep Florida safe, strong, and free.”

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