'Alligator Alcatraz' merch pushed by GOP as Florida moves forward with detention facility
As officials move forward with plans to open a new migrant detention facility nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" in Florida's Everglades, the state's GOP has started selling themed shirts, hats and coolers.
The items are available on the party's online store, which feature the "Alligator Alcatraz" moniker surrounded by claw marks. The t-shirts and beverage coolers also show a stylized mockup of the building, with a large alligator and snake in the foreground.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Friday interview on Fox News that the new detention center will host its first detainees by July 1, roughly a week and a half after State Attorney General James Uthmeier posted the first video about the proposed facility and a week after construction began.
What is 'Alligator Alcatraz'? Migrant detention center approved in Florida.
"The perimeter's already set by mother nature," Uthmeier said about the site in an interview posted on X. "A lot of people thought maybe it was just a joke, but we're serious."
The Florida GOP's items echo similar political merchandise popularized by the Republican party in recent years, like the Trump campaign's embrace of t-shirts using his 2023 mug shot. More recently, Trump supporters seized on the moment NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said "daddy has to sometimes use strong language," with the release of a video of Trump set to "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)" by Usher and "daddy" t-shirts from The Trump War Room, run by Trump's campaign operation.
What is 'Alligator Alcatraz'?
The federal government on June 23 approved a proposal to open a 5,000-bed detention facility on 39-square miles of land in the Everglades, according to Uthmeier, which includes converting existing structures from the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport. The Florida facility, estimated to cost $450 million annually, could eventually house up to 5,000 people, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The facility, close to the Everglades National Park, has drawn backlash from locals and environmental groups. Two groups, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, have filed a lawsuit against the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop what they said is the "unlawful construction of a prison in the heart of the Everglades."
Sierra Club Florida also is opposed to the development, which it said is "irresponsible."
"This 30 square-mile-area is completely surrounded by the Everglades," Uthmeier said in a video proposing the site. "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 'em other than alligators and pythons−nowhere to go, nowhere to hide."
Within days, trucks were seen bringing in materials, the Department of Homeland Security gave its approval and said FEMA money would be used to help fund it, and the governor's office announced the state would use emergency powers to take control of the land away from Miami-Dade County.
Alligator Alcatraz: the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump's mass deportation agenda. pic.twitter.com/96um2IXE7U
The governor told "Fox and Friends" co-host Steve Doocy is set to hold more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants. "We've got a massive runway right behind us where any of the federal assets, if they wanna fly these people back to their own country, they can do it one-stop-shop."
The move comes as both DeSantis and the Trump administration ramp up efforts to seize and deport undocumented immigrants in Florida and across the country, and several weeks after the president ordered federal agencies to reopen the original infamous Alcatraz, long a San Francisco tourist attraction, to "house America's most ruthless and violent offenders."
Where is 'Alligator Alcatraz'?
The "Alligator Alcatraz" facility is in Ochopee, Florida, just north of Everglades National Park and about 36 miles west of the Miami business district, CNN reported.
According to the Miami International Airport, the Dade-Collier Airport is used as a training facility for "commercial pilots, private training, and a small number of military touch-and-goes."
It's also around the ancestral homelands of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribe of Florida. Tribal members have denounced the development of detainment camps on indigenous land.
The facility was constructed in 1968 and originally known as the Everglades Jetport, according to the National Park Service, before an environmental study and activist protests killed the plan.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford established Big Cypress National Preserve in the area, the nation's first national preserve. The Alligator Alcatraz site is about six miles from Big Cypress National Preserve.
Contributing: Melina Khan, USA TODAY, Antonio Fin, USA TODAY Network; Reuters.
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that the US could wrap up its most important trade deals by Labor Day. "Secretary Lutnick said yesterday that he expects 10 more deals," Bessent told Fox Business Network in an interview. "So if we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day." Bessent's comments come after the US and China signed an interim trade agreement on Friday that would reduce tariffs while the two sides work toward a formal deal. Trump administration officials have softened their stance toward the July 9 deadline they set for themselves to hammer out trade pacts. On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the early July deadline "is not critical" while Trump's top economic adviser said he expected the US to extend the pause for countries negotiating "in good faith." The other shoe has dropped: Beijing has backed up the plans for trade easing laid out by the US, signaling warmer relations between the recently feuding sides. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. The European Union, looking to clinch a trade deal with the US before a July 9 deadline, is prepared to accept a "universal" tariff of 10% on goods exported to the US, according to a Bloomberg report Monday. But the bloc is seeking exemptions on key sectors, including pharmaceuticals, alcohol, semiconductors and commercial aircraft. From Bloomberg: Read more here. President Trump said on Monday afternoon he was willing to impose a higher tariff rate on Japan, saying the country refused to accept US rice exports. "To show people how spoiled Countries have become with respect to the United States of America, and I have great respect for Japan, they won't take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage," Trump posted on Truth Social. "In other words, we'll just be sending them a letter, and we love having them as a Trading Partner for many years to come." Trump's statement that he would send a letter to Japan outlining the new tariff rate comes a little more than a week before a July 9 deadline and after months of being locked in trade talks with Japanese leaders. Trump has threatened to send letters to trading partners should negotiations break down. During trade talks, Japan has sought an exemption from the Trump administration's 25% auto duties. Broad tariffs on Japanese goods were set to jump back up to 24% on July 9 if no deal is reached and the tariff pause is not extended. Read more here. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned "recalcitrant" countries that their tariff levels could soon snap back to "Liberation Day" levels, the latest sign of ambiguity in President Trump's firmness around a July 9 deadline. Via Reuters: Administration officials — and Trump himself — have sent mixed signals on whether he may look to extend that deadline. Trump on Sunday suggested he didn't think he'd "need to" extend it. Tariffs pressures have started to hit goods, with prices on products made in China sold on Amazon (AMZN) rising faster than overall inflation, according to 1,400 different items which were analysed by DataWeave and provided exclusively to Reuters. Reuters reports: Read more here. CNN reports: Read more here. The European Union is pushing back against the US and its criticism of the bloc's tech rules, which many feared may have been included as part of trade negotiations. Reuters reports: Read more here. There is a belief among economists that President Trump's tariffs will help boost inflation over the next few months. But so far, muted price increases have called that belief into question. This has helped to embolden Trump, causing divisions with the Fed. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. South Korea is looking for an extension to the July 9 tariff deadline as talks continue. The US has raised concerns over non-tariff barriers and broader defence. South Korea is not the only country looking to reach a deal with the US before the tariff deadline on July 9. "It seems some countries will reach a deal by July 8, some might be granted an extension to continue negotiations, while others will decide if they want to continue negotiating under tariffs or not," the South Korean official told a briefing. Here's how some of the other trading partners are managing the deadline. China The US and China reached a deal to resume rare earth exports in London this month, resolving delays in implementing the Geneva agreement, which was established in May. Both sides are keen to ease tensions before tariffs rise further on August 9, when broader duties could rise 50%. Canada Canada scrapped its planned digital services tax targeting US tech firms on Sunday in an attempt to revive stalled talks. President Trump threatened new tariffs within a week if no deal is reached. According to Reuters, talks aim for an agreement by July 21. EU EU negotiators are pushing to keep reciprocal tariffs below 10% but Washington is pursuing a 10% baseline rate on most goods. Talks continue as the EU faces a looming deadline of July 9. UK The US-UK trade deal was cemented at the G-7 Summit this month. The deal came into force this week, reducing levies on cars and aircraft parts but keeping 10% tariffs on exports. Steel and aluminium tariffs remain unresloved ahead of the July 9 deadline. Japan Japan is seeking exemption from US auto tariffs, which currently stand at 25%, while also facing a new 24% reciprocal tariff from July 9. Trump wants Japan to import more US energy to reduce its trade surplus. Mexico The US and Mexico are negotiating a quota deal to reduce Trump's 50% steel tariffs. An agreement may allow for lower import rates. As earning season approaches, Goldman Sachs (GS) said on Monday that US profit margins will be tested as investors await to see how President Trump's war has hurt companies. Goldman's David Kostin said Q2 earnings will show the immediate impact of tariffs, which have risen about 10% this year. Most costs will be passed on to consumers, but margins will suffer if firms absorb more than expected. Early results are mixed: General Mills (GIS) stock fell 5% last week due to a weak forecast and tariff warning, while Nike (NKE) rose 15% after announcing it will offset higher duties. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Canada scrapped its planned digital services tax on US tech firms late Sunday, just hours before it was due to start. The move aims to revive stalled trade talks with the US, which halted on Friday over the tax, with President Trump calling it a "blatant attack." Canada's finance ministry said Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump plan to reach a deal by July 21. Trump warned on Friday he would set new tariffs on Canadian goods within a week, risking fresh tension between the two countries. The 3% tech tax would have hit firms like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), and Amazon (AMZN), but Canada will now bring forward legislation to cancel it. "The DST was announced in 2020 to address the fact that many large technology companies operating in Canada may not otherwise pay tax on revenues generated from Canadians," a statement from the Canadian finance ministry said. "Canada's preference has always been a multilateral agreement related to digital services taxation." Despite predictions from members of President Trump's administration that it could complete "90 deals in 90 days," the White House doesn't appear to be anywhere close to the sweeping global trade reform it was seeking, Bloomberg reports: Read more here In a wide-ranging interview during which he also said he had a buyer for TikTok (whom he did not name), President Donald Trump he did not think he would need to extend a July 9 tariffs deadline, Bloomberg reports: Read more here As the Independence Day holiday approaches, the fireworks used in displays across the US likely won't be affected by President Trump's tariffs, at least, not yet. A 90-day pause on the levies slated for imports from China is in effect, but such tariffs would hit the fireworks industry hard. Nearly all the fireworks used in the US are imported from China, the Associated Press reports. The price tag on future fireworks displays, however, are up in the air: Read more here The market's task of planning for how tariff developments will play out this summer got more complicated Friday as President Trump and his team offered a host of options for what to expect in the months ahead. First, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised eyebrows when he suggested that his focus could be on an end-of-summer deadline, saying, "I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day." But any hopes for a summer lull between now and then were short-lived when, just a few hours later, Trump offered multiple other scenarios during a wide-ranging press conference. At one point, the president reiterated his plan to send letters to dictate tariff rates for at least some countries, perhaps as soon as next week, saying, "It's going to go very quickly." Minutes later, he said that a July 9 deadline to raise "reciprocal" tariffs is not set and perhaps could move, but in an unpredictable direction. "We can do whatever we want," he told reporters of that deadline. "We could extend it, we could make it shorter," adding that his preference was to make it shorter. Read more here President Trump on Friday said he is cutting off all trade talks with Canada, threatening to set a new tariff rate on goods imported from the country within the next week. The reason, according to Trump: Canada's plan to implement a digital services tax, which could affect US tech companies. Trump's about-face throws a potential wrench in weeks of trade progress. Just hours earlier, the US and China cemented the trade truce first agreed to last month in Geneva. Here's Trump's Truth Social post on Canada, in full: On Friday afternoon, President Trump touted tariff revenue and an influx of domestic manufacturing but offered few details on the state of tariff negotiations ahead of the July 9 deadline, when the tariff pause expires. The president acknowledged that the administration won't be able to reach deals with 200-plus countries over the next week and a half. But he did not definitively say whether tariff rates would jump back up to "Liberation Day" levels. "We can do whatever we want," Trump told reporters in a press briefing, referring to the tariff pause. "We could extend it. We could make it shorter — I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just send letters out to everybody: 'Congratulations, you're paying 25%'" So far, the Trump administration has confirmed preliminary trade agreements with China (as of today) and the UK. Trump noted that officials are in the process of negotiating other deals, which he said are "going to go very quickly." In particular, Trump again teased a potential deal with India, which has faced roadblocks in recent weeks over some of the country's protectionist policies for certain sectors. "Some of the bigger countries, India, I think we're going to reach a deal where we have the right to go in and trade," Trump said. "Right now, it's restricted. ... We're looking to get a full trade barrier dropping, which is unthinkable, and I'm not sure that that's going to happen, but as of this moment, we've agreed to go into Indian trade." US and EU officials are confident of clinching a trade deal before a July 9 deadline, Bloomberg reported Friday. Amid continued progress on China, the US-EU talks have come in high focus ahead of that deadline, with US tariffs of up to 50% looming on EU imports. From the report: Read more here. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that the US could wrap up its most important trade deals by Labor Day. "Secretary Lutnick said yesterday that he expects 10 more deals," Bessent told Fox Business Network in an interview. "So if we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day." Bessent's comments come after the US and China signed an interim trade agreement on Friday that would reduce tariffs while the two sides work toward a formal deal. Trump administration officials have softened their stance toward the July 9 deadline they set for themselves to hammer out trade pacts. On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the early July deadline "is not critical" while Trump's top economic adviser said he expected the US to extend the pause for countries negotiating "in good faith." The other shoe has dropped: Beijing has backed up the plans for trade easing laid out by the US, signaling warmer relations between the recently feuding sides. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
