'Alligator Alcatraz' detention site in Everglades draws protests
1 of 2 | A detention center planned for an airstrip in the Florida Everglades is expected to open this week to assist with the Trump administration's "mass deportation agenda," according to state officials. Screenshot courtesy Attorney General James Uthmeier/ X
June 29 (UPI) -- Several hundred demonstrators protested plans for an immigration detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," that is being constructed on an abandoned airstrip in Florida's Everglades.
The protest, which was organized by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades, drew environmental activists, indigenous groups and immigration advocates on Saturday.
They went to the edge of the Tamiami Trail, which is near the site for the mobile units being constructed on the border between Collier County and Miami-Dade County. Alligator Alligator Alley, which is part of Interstate 75, runs 80 miles across the state through the Everglades.
During the protest, trucks carried building materials, industrial lights, generators and portable toilets for an initial 1,000 beds when it opens, and ultimately 3,000.
Florida Highway Patrol, Collier County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement personnel directed traffic.
Protesters expressed concerns about long-term harm to the Everglades ecosystem.
"They're building something that is devastating to us from a humanitarian standpoint, from a moral injury standpoint, and from an environmental standpoint it's just incredibly sad," a protester told WPLG-TV.
On Friday, environmental groups filed a lawsuit seeking to halt construction of the facility, saying it "threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect."
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who used his emergency powers in approving the project, said there will be "zero" impact.
He accused critics of using the Everglades "as a pretext just for the fact that they oppose immigration enforcement."
"Florida is stepping up to help increase deportations and fulfill President Trump's mandate to enforce immigration law," DeSantis posted Friday on X. "Alligator Alcatraz is a secure facility in Florida that will stage criminal illegal aliens for efficient mass deportation."
DeSantis provided a tour for Fox & Friends on Friday.
"This is going to be a place where DHS has said we need help with the space so illegals can be processed and then they can be deported right from here," DeSantis said. "This is going to have thousands of illegals and it's going to increase the ability to do deportations."
Alligator Alcatraz became known to the public on June 18 with plans to be finished by this week.
Attorney General James Uthmeier has been campaigning for the site with interviews across cable news and posting a video on X on June 19 promoting it as "the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump's mass deportaion agenda."
Alligator Alcatraz: the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump's mass deportation agenda. pic.twitter.com/96um2IXE7U— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 19, 2025
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, opposes the takeover of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
"Due to the location of this parcel in a critical area, the conveyance of this parcel requires considerable review and due diligence," Cava wrote in a letter to Kevin Guthrie, the state's emergency management director. "It is also imperative that we fully understand the scope and scale of the proposed use of the site and what will be developed, as the impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating."
The airstrip was envisioned to become an airport with construction to begin in 1968. Work was halted in 1970 because of environmental concerns, but not before one runway was finished.
The land later became Big Cyprus National Preserve, which encompasses 1,139 square miles. The preserve, which also includes swamp, is north of Everglades National Park, which covers 2,356 square miles.
The governor utilized an emergency order in 2023 in response to Cuban and Haitian migrants arriving in the Florida Keys by boat, with the state offering to pay $20 million for the land.
Florida will seek reimbursement from the federal government for the $450 million yearly cost of running the facility, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told the Miami Herald.
DeSantis and Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem have touted the location because it is in a relatively remote area and surrounded by swampland containing alligators, snakes, panthers and other wild animals.
"Alligator Alcatraz, and other facilities like it, will give us the capability to lock up some of the worst scumbags who entered our country under the previous administration," Noem posted Friday on X.
The preserve also is on indigenous land, and still is home to members of the Miccosukee Tribe.
"Now, all day long I hear noise from the big trucks," Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee environmental activist, told reporters.
Osceola said she fears there will be more development near the airstrip.
"Find it in your heart to pray for these people," she said. "That they can be human beings again. If they're human beings again, this will stop."
Jamie DeRoin, 45, who traveled three hours from Port St. Lucie to Collier County, told the Sun Sentinel that placing a detention center in the middle of the Everglades was "inhumane.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
9 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Senate GOP tax bill could crush wind and solar power, advocates say
WASHINGTON (AP) — Clean energy advocates were already bracing for a Republican-led bill that would phase out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers moved to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden. But a proposal that emerged over the weekend was even more drastic than they thought. It was more aggressive in ending incentives for clean energy than a previous Senate version and would even impose new taxes on some wind and solar projects while boosting production of coal used in steelmaking. The Senate was moving Monday to approve Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts even as Democrats lined up to challenge it. The GOP plan is 'a death sentence for America's wind and solar industries' that will lead to a spike in Americans' utility bills and jeopardize hundreds of renewable energy projects slated to boost the nation's electric grid, said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. 'Their plan started out as a phase-down of the tax credits I wrote for wind and solar' in the 2022 climate law, Wyden said. 'But now they're proposing an outright massacre with punishing new taxes on these industries that happen to be the cheapest and easiest ways to get new energy on the grid.' Republicans say it will save people moneyRepublicans said the tax-cut bill represents historic savings for taxpayers and supports production of traditional fossil-fuel energy sources such as oil, natural gas and coal, as well as nuclear power, increasing reliability. 'To achieve this record level of savings, we are slashing Biden's Green New Deal spending and promoting America-First energy,'' Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, chairman of the Senate Finance panel and a lead architect of the bill, said in a statement. 'We stop penalizing fossil fuels in favor of unreliable and expensive green energy, and instead support consistent energy sources, making energy affordable again.' Crapo said. The Senate bill eliminates 'hundreds of billions of dollars of the Green New Deal subsidies, including ending wasteful credits like the EV tax credit,' he added, referring to a Democratic measure included the climate law to provide incentives for electric vehicles that don't emit planet-warming greenhouse gases. Some moderate senators, such as Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, were seeking to strip the new tax on wind and solar and make other other changes, but it was unclear whether those proposals would advance. If approved unchanged, the measure will kill investment in renewable energy and jeopardize hundreds of gigawatts of new power supply that would otherwise help the U.S. meet rapidly rising electricity demand as data centers, artificial intelligence and other growing uses strain the power grid, environmental advocates said. Advocates of green energy worry of a daunting future The GOP plan would 'lock in higher household energy bills, kill American jobs ... and torch our future,'' said Mattea Mrkusic, who leads energy policy for the environmental group Evergreen Action. The bill would cut off climate law credits for projects that aren't 'placed in service' — that is, plugged into the grid — by the end of 2028. That timeline is more aggressive than previous proposals and virtually impossible for most projects to meet, advocates said. The legislation also blocks credits for companies using components from adversaries such as China and adds a new tax on wind and solar projects that don't follow certain supply chain rules. Princeton University Professor Jesse D. Jenkins said he was surprised at the Senate bill's speed in ending wind and solar incentives and shocked at the proposed tax credit for metallurgical coal, a highly polluting form of coal that is used in steel-making and often exported to countries like India and Brazil. 'This bill kills the industries of the future while subsidizing the industries of the 19th century. It's insanity!' Jenkins said in a post on social media. If passed as proposed, the bill lead to higher energy prices, fewer jobs, less investment in American energy production and less confidence in the American business environment, Jenkins said. A volley of responses comes in from both sides Tom Pyle, president of the conservative American Energy Alliance, called the Senate bill a move in the right direction. 'If, as supporters of the Inflation Reduction Act are complaining, repealing these subsidies will 'kill' their industry, then maybe it shouldn't exist in the first place,' Pyle said, referring to the 2022 climate law. 'Extending green giveaways on the backs of American taxpayers is shortsighted and neglectful,' Pyle said. 'It's time for Congress to deliver both energy reliability and the largest tax cut in history to President Trump and the American people.' Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, called the Senate bill a 'midnight dumping' and said it would punish the fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. energy industry. 'It is astounding that the Senate would intentionally raise prices on consumers rather than encouraging economic growth and addressing the affordability crisis facing American households,' Grumet said. The bill would 'strand hundreds of billions of dollars in current investments' and land hardest on rural communities that would benefit the most from clean energy investment, he said. Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, called the bill 'a direct attack on American energy, American workers and American consumers.' 'Make no mistake: If this bill passes, Americans will pay the price — literally,' Hopper said. 'Power bills will rise. Factory jobs will vanish. Families will be forced to spend more just to keep the lights on and their homes cool. All while we become more dependent on foreign energy and more vulnerable to blackouts.' ___ St. John reported from Detroit.
New York Times
10 minutes ago
- New York Times
Satellite Imagery Shows Iran at Work at Fordo Nuclear Site
Satellite images taken in the days after the American attack on Iran's Fordo nuclear enrichment site show a flurry of activity at the heavily fortified facility built deep inside a mountain. New roads can be seen constructed to the points where U.S. bombs struck the top of the mountain, and an apparent crane and an excavator seem to be working near one of the impact sites. Many other vehicles are also visible at additional points around the site in the images, which were captured by Maxar Technologies. 'It appears that they're evaluating the hole, evaluating how deep it went,' said Joseph S. Bermudez, senior fellow for imagery analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'The images are showing us that the Iranians are beginning the process of investigating what happened and what level of damage the facility has.' American B-2 bombers dropped 12 Massive Ordnance Penetrators — 30,000-pound bombs often called 'bunker busters' — on the Fordo enrichment site on June 22. Afterward, President Trump said the facility was 'obliterated,' though other assessments have been more cautious. Experts said the Iranians were most likely using the newly constructed roads and equipment to assess the damage themselves. 'It looks to me like they're examining the impact of the event rather than doing any thing more substantial like carrying out repairs or recovery. I don't think I see any evidence of that,' said Peter McDonald, a director at Viper Applied Science, a company that specializes in blast and structural dynamics and computational physics. A day after the American attacks, Israel said it had also hit Fordo, striking access routes to the site. Satellite imagery shows that repairs began quickly: By June 27, Iran had already filled in a large crater at the site's entrance left by the Israeli strikes a few days earlier, the images show. JUNE 20 Entrance to the complex JUNE 24 Crater following Israeli strikes JUNE 27 Vehicles Access repaired JUNE 20 JUNE 24 JUNE 27 Vehicles Entrance to the complex Access repaired Crater following Israeli strikes Source: Satellite images by Maxar Technologies Iran doesn't appear to be beginning any type of reconstruction or repairs to the enrichment facility itself. 'I don't think they've moved into the phase of reactivation,' Mr. Bermudez said. 'There's no real evidence for that. You would expect to see more vehicles, different types of vehicles.' James Glanz contributed reporting.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump is expected to sign an executive order ending US sanctions on Syria
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Monday ending U.S. sanctions on Syria, following through on his earlier promise to do so. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was designed to 'promote and support the country's path to stability and peace.' Sanctions will remain in place on former President Bashar Assad, his associates and others, she said. The U.S. granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions in May, which was a first step toward fulfilling the Republican president's pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 13 years of civil war. Trump met with Syria's interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Saudi Arabia in May and told Al-Sharaa that he would lift sanctions and explore normalizing relations in a major policy shift between the U.S. and Syria. 'This is another promise made and promise kept,' Leavitt said Monday. The European Union has also followed through with lifting nearly all remaining sanctions on Syria. Fatima Hussein And Matthew Lee, The Associated Press 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
