Stark first photos from inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz' reveal bleak Florida digs for up to 5,000 migrants
Video taken during a tour by President Trump on Tuesday revealed rows upon rows of empty industrial metal bunk beds enclosed in hastily constructed cages made up of chain fences.
'[President] Biden wanted me in here, that son of a b*****,' President Trump said jokingly Tuesday as he was shown around the vast secure facility hidden within the subtropical wetlands of South Florida teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons.
'I looked outside, and that's not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,' Trump told reporters after his tour. 'We're surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation.'
The complex, located at the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, will cost an estimated $450 million a year to operate, and the first migrants are set to arrive as soon as Wednesday.
Some of the cost of the facility — which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said was built in just eight days — will be reimbursed from FEMA's Shelter and Services Program, officials said.
The site features at least 200 security cameras, 28,000 feet of barbed wire and more than 400 security personnel, officials said.
Dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' or 'Gator Gitmo,' the state-built facility in Florida's infamous Alligator Alley aims to help ICE reach its migrant deportation targets.
It lies in the middle of Route 41 — the road that crosses the south of the Sunshine State from Miami to Naples.
'There's only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday ahead of President Trump's visit. 'It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain.'
Former President Obama said jokingly in 2011 that Republicans were so hardline, they would demand to use alligators to deter illegal immigrants — and Trump and DeSantis have now made that a reality.
The Trump administration has played up the dangerous gator-infested surroundings of the center, sharing memes of alligators wearing ICE hats on Department of Homeland Security social-media accounts and even selling 'Alligator Alcatraz'-related merchandise.
Around 100 National Guard troops will be sent to the site about 37 miles from Miami to help provide security, DeSantis said Tuesday.
Trump said jokingly that new detainees were going to be taught how to evade alligators by Homeland Security.
'We're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, OK, if they escape from prison,' he said.
'How to run away. Don't run in a straight line. Run like this,' he added, making zigzag motions with his hands.
Opponents have slammed the scheme as inhumane, with one X user comparing footage of the site to 'a concentration camp' and adding that they couldn't see any air conditioning or vents inside the facility.
But government officials insist the site will have 24/7 air conditioning to survive the sweltering Florida heat and humidity.
Environmental groups have also criticized the new facility, claiming it would damage endangered and threatened species that call the Everglades home. They have called on Florida to make an environmental assessment before continuing with the project.
But Florida state officials argued that the law under which the groups are suing doesn't apply to them but only to the federal government, according to court documents seen by the Washington Times.
The local airport is already in full-time use, Florida argued, handling about 28,000 flights in the past six months with two buildings lit 24 hours a day.
Trump has called for similar detention facilities to spring up all over the country, forming a network of sites across the US.
'I would like to see them in many states. Really, many states. And you know, at some point, they might morph into a system,' he said.
With Post wires
Originally published as Stark first photos from inside 'Alligator Alcatraz' reveal bleak Florida digs for up to 5,000 migrants
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