\u201cPeople I know are in tears, and I wasn\u2019t far from it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Florida officials have forged ahead over the past week in constructing the compound dubbed as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d<\/a> within the Everglades\u2019 humid swamplands. <\/p>\n The government fast-tracked the project under emergency powers from an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis that addresses what he views as a crisis of illegal immigration. That order lets the state sidestep certain purchasing laws and is why construction has continued despite objections from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and local activists.<\/p>\n The facility will have temporary structures like heavy-duty tents and trailers to house detained immigrants. The state estimates that by early July, it will have 5,000 immigration detention beds in operation.<\/p>\n The compound\u2019s proponents have noted its location in the Florida wetlands \u2014 teeming with massive reptiles like alligators and invasive Burmese pythons \u2014 make it an ideal spot for immigration detention<\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Environmental advocates and protesters at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Tamiami Trail E, Ochopee, Fla., on Saturday, June 28, 2025, object to the \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d being built at the facility. (Mike Stocker \/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)<\/p>\n Environmental advocates and protesters at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Tamiami Trail E, Ochopee, Fla., on Saturday, June 28, 2025, object to the \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d being built at the facility. (Mike Stocker \/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, from a security perspective, if someone escapes, you know, there\u2019s a lot of alligators,\u201d DeSantis said Wednesday. \u201cNo one\u2019s going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Under DeSantis, Florida has made an aggressive push for immigration enforcement<\/a> and has been supportive of the federal government\u2019s broader crackdown on illegal immigration<\/a>. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has backed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d which DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said will be partially funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.<\/p>\n But Native American leaders in the region<\/a> have seen the construction as an encroachment onto their sacred homelands, which prompted Saturday\u2019s protest. In Big Cypress National Preserve, where the airstrip is located, 15 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, remain.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n