Image of Trump as pope, call to reopen Alcatraz and movie tariff mark 10th Mar-a-Lago visit

Yahoo

05-05-2025

An image of himself as pope, a proposal to reopen Alcatraz prison and a call for tariffs on movies produced on foreign film sets marked President Donald Trump's 10th visit to Palm Beach this term.
The AI-generated visual of the president in papal attire was posted May 3 while global Catholics are still mourning the April 21 death of Pope Francis. Cardinals from around the world are scheduled to open a conclave to choose the next pontiff on May 7.
Trump's post on Truth Social with the image did not have accompanying text, but it drew a rebuke from New York bishops.
"There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President," the Catholic Bishops of New York State wrote on X. "We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us."
In another post as the president was departing for Washington on May 4, he demanded a rebuilding and reopening of the former federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
"When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm," he wrote. "That's the way it's supposed to be."
Alcatraz served as a high-security prison from the Great Depression until the early 1960s, when it was closed by order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the father of current Trump Cabinet member and health czar Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. It housed some of the country's most notorious criminals, including Al Capone.
Today, most of the site is decayed except for the main cell block building and other structures that are a national historic site open to tourists. The president said he was "directing" the Bureau of Prisons, along with the departments of Justice and Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, "to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders."
He said the United States would not be "held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally."
Trump's Alcatraz order followed a posting earlier in the weekend expressing frustration that federal judges have blocked some of his efforts to "Deport Criminals, including Murderers, out of our Country and back to" their home countries.
"If this is so, our Country, as we know it, is finished! Americans will have to get used to a very different, crime filled, LIFE. This is not what our Founders had in mind!!!" he wrote.
The court orders Trump railed against have come as arguments have been presented before federal judges that the administration has removed people from the United States who did not have criminal records. Those cases include a Cuban woman from Tampa who is married to a naturalized U.S. citizen and is the mother of a 1-year-old daughter and was reportedly deported to the communist island last month.
The focus on deporting foreign nationals extends well beyond just those with criminal records. Last month, Florida International University revealed it has joined the federal-state partnership and its security officers will participate in efforts to detain people on campus they suspect are simply in the country without permission. The police department at Florida Atlantic University has applied to become part of the partnership as well.
The Trump administration has allowed the Temporary Protected Status for tens of thousands of Venezuelans to expire, making them eligible for deportation. A federal judge has, for the moment, blocked the decision by Homeland Security, which also has indicated TPS for other holders, including Haitians, will come to an end this year.
The administration has acknowledged its intention is to also deport people with no criminal background.
Madison Sheahan, the deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said May 1 the priority is to remove individuals who pose a safety or security threat to the general population. But she made clear the definition of criminality is much broader saying "everybody that is in this country illegally is a criminal."
Trump's Alcatraz directive also comes as immigration advocates and the families of those being held at a southern Miami-Dade County detention center have decried what they allege are deadly overcrowding conditions. And as the shipment of people to a prison in El Salvador continues to draw scrutiny and criticism.
On May 3, while the president was in town, a 25% tariff on imported auto parts began. But it was a duty on movies filmed abroad that was also on the president's agenda this weekend.
Trump said he was "authorizing" the Department of Commerce and the U.S. trade representative to "immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff" on movies "produced in Foreign Lands," saying they pose a national security threat.
"The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death," he wrote. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat."
Trump arrived late on May 1 and attended a Republican National Committee spring gala held at Mar-a-Lago on May 2. Trump has traveled to the Winter White House 10 times this term, spending part or all of 35 days.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [e-mail]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump in Palm Beach: Image as pope, Alcatraz and movie tariff mark visit