Trump Visits $450 Million 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Suggests Taxpayers Should Fund More of Them

Only eight days after construction began, Florida’s new immigration detention center in the Everglades is set to officially open this week.

Only eight days after construction began, and 12 days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier released a video on X announcing plans for an immigration detention center in the Everglades, "Alligator Alcatraz" will officially open this week. The site, which was visited by President Donald Trump and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, puts Florida at the forefront of the federal government's mass deportation campaign.

The state-run immigration detention facility is planned to eventually hold up to 5,000 detainees and will be capable of processing and deporting migrants to speed up deportations amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The 30-square-mile parcel of land was chosen in part for its unused airstrip—and for its alligator- and python-laden surroundings serving as cheap security and deterrence. "They ain't going anywhere once they are there…because good luck getting to civilization," DeSantis said during a news conference on Monday. "The security is amazing. Natural and otherwise."

During the tour of the facility, DeSantis added that Florida should not be the only state but should serve as a model. "We need other states to step up," he said.

Trump called out California Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically, saying the Democratic governor could "learn something" about curbing illegal immigration. DeSantis pointed out that California is home to the original Alcatraz, implying that it, too, could be outfitted as an immigration detention center. Although both the president and DeSantis were quick to say Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem would be able to find funding for additional immigration detention centers, the cost and source of funding for these facilities merit further scrutiny, particularly since ultimately taxpayers are footing the bill. 

While touted as an "efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility" in Uthmeier's original video about the facility, Florida's new facility is expected to cost $450 million to operate for a single year. A DHS official told CNN that Florida will fund the operation of the facility and then "submit reimbursement requests" through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and DHS. Secretary Noem said that Alligator Alcatraz and other approved detention facilities in the state will be funded "in large part" by $625 million set aside by the FEMA Shelter and Services Program.

The project has faced objections from local residents and government officials, including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who opposed using county-owned land for the project. After Levine Cava requested an environmental impact report and updated land appraisal, DeSantis seized the land under emergency powers in place since 2023.

Comments

[Spiritus Mundi]

How many more illegals should we fund?

[Social Justice is neither]

On one hand this has all the hallmarks of a boondoggle publicity stunt; on the other hand I might have a second thought about breaking the law if poorly built prison in gator territory was a viable option for any infraction. This is to me like the Turkish prison reputation only it's Florida Man certified prison conditions.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The headline is a lie. The body gets it right.

Florida's new facility is expected to cost $450 million to operate for a single year.

But that implies it is unique in costing that much. It houses 5000 deportees. If it takes one week to process each, that's 260,000 per year, and less than $2000 per deportee.

Or think of it as how much the guards cost. At $100,000 per guard, the $450 million would pay for 4500 guards. Since guards are not the full operating cost, that's an absolute maximum. If guards work 40 hour shifts and take time off for vacations, that's 5 employees for every guard position, down to 900 guard position. Suddenly that doesn't seem nearly as extravagant.

Any deportation center will have the same costs.

The headline is a lie. Autumn Billings is a liar.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Well duhh! A chick wrote it,

[Dillinger]

thank god she wasn't driving.

[JonFrum]

It's that simple. And not surprising considering that Reason was funded as an open borders propaganda venue years ago.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Muting Sarc like he mutes us)]

The Reason staff were told there’d be no math.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Math is racist.

[JonFrum]

This is what I voted for. Everything costs money to operate. One look at the facility shows that there is no money being wasted here. The money that was wasted was that which let these mooks in the country in the first place.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Again any illegal alien without a criminal record is free to self deport with or without a deportation order. Those without a criminal history can get free transportation and a cool thousand bucks in spending cash (weird that Reason has never mentioned that). These detention centers are necessary to house criminals and those who's home countries will not take them back. This would all be a whole lot cheaper and easier if Biden and his acolytes like Reason had not opened the borders and shredded the immigration system. Having said that I would support a separate wing for Maryland Dads to stay while the ACLU wastes government resources demanding moar due process.

[MollyGodiva]

ICE has arrested immigrants who are at the airport heading back to their original country.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Muting Sarc like he mutes us)]

Cite?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Yeah, that's a giant lie, Tony.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Fuck off commie scum.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Nearly 100B a year is spent on illegals. Yet you complain about a much smaller number to discourage from the problems growing.

[MollyGodiva]

We are already past the "concentration camp" step of the fascist checklist.

[damikesc]

Yup. Biden decided to imprison Americans for no valid reason and violate human rights laws by keeping them in solitary for over a year.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

I never thought Tony would one day recognize what the Biden junta did to J6ers and Covid heretics, but here we are.
Wow.
There's hope for even absolute fucking idiots.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Molly wants a shot at redemption? Guess she doesn't want to wind up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Wanna go for a helicopter ride, commie scum?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

"Trump Visits $450 Million 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Suggests Taxpayers Should Fund More of Them"

So does Reason want prisons to be government funded or be private for-profit ventures?

We know corporate punishment is out, and exile for things like illegal entry is the worst thing since the holocaust, so what else is there?
Murderers and child rapists get a stern lecture?

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Open borders uber alles.

[Uncle Jay]

"Trump Visits $450 Million 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Suggests Taxpayers Should Fund More of Them."

I wonder if there was a vote among the US citizens, would they approve getting their taxes raised to build more alligator alcatrazes?
I doubt it because once a tax is put in place, it rarely, if ever is rescinded.
However, I wonder if the citizens of the US would be willing to donate money for more alligator alcatrazes, would they do so?
The same ideas would be relevant to building a wall on our SW borders.

[AT]

During the tour of the facility, DeSantis added that Florida should not be the only state but should serve as a model. "We need other states to step up," he said.

I was saying this before it was cool.

We have uninhabited territories. Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, Navassa Island. Said for years that all of them are entirely feasible for this, the same way they built up Gatortraz. Probably come with even less griping too, because the "fence" is an ocean instead of a gator/snake-filled bog.