The denizens of Donald Trump’s favorite morning show Tuesday gleefully applauded the president for advising detainees of the new immigration detention center in Florida to run in a “serpentine” pattern to avoid getting eaten by alligators.
Ahead of the president’s Tuesday visit to the migrant camp colloquially known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Trump administration has celebrated the remote location in the Everglades swamps as both a way to punish immigrants in this country illegally and to deter further migration into the country.
“There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt breathlessly described the facility Monday. “This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.”
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, fully leaned into the imagery of carnivorous reptiles threatening detained migrants by tweeting an AI-generated meme of alligators wearing ICE caps outside of the Florida prison center.
As he prepared to leave the White House to survey the detention camp, Trump was asked Tuesday morning if the intent was for alligators to literally eat escaping detainees, prompting him to respond: “I guess that’s the concept.”
Saying “this is not a nice business,” the president then claimed that “snakes are fast but alligators aren’t” before quipping that detained migrants would be taught to avoid the treacherous wildlife.
“Don't run in a straight line. Run like this,” Trump said, making a zigzag motion with his hand. “And you know what? Your chances go up about 1 percent. That’s not a good thing.”
For what it’s worth, experts have long recommended running away from alligators in a straight line if attacked, saying “everything you hear about running in a zigzag line is untrue.”
Moments after the president wrapped up his White House lawn gaggle, the hosts of Fox & Friends chuckled over the prospect of imprisoned immigrants running away from hungry alligators and heeding the president’s instructions.
“They did ask about Alligator Alcatraz and he said, ‘What if someone gets eaten by an alligator?’” Ainsley Earhardt laughed. “Teach them how to run!”
With co-host Brian Kilmeade repeating Trump’s zigzagging hand motion while declaring that detainees need to use a “serpentine” running pattern, Earhardt added that it was because “alligators can’t move quickly.”
“If an alligator's about to chase you, just keep in mind, the president just gave you advice,” Kilmeade continued. “Do not run in a straight line.”
Earhardt, still giggling, reminded her curvy couch colleagues that it would only give the escapees “a one percent chance” of survival. “I’ll take it,” Kilmeade responded as the rest of the Fox & Friends crew smiled.
While the visualization of migrants crammed into a tent city in the middle of a Florida swamp surrounded by alligators and pythons has further energized Trump’s core supporters, the president’s deportation actions have grown increasingly unpopular among the American public as a whole.
According to the latest Quinnipiac poll, 57 percent of registered voters disapprove of the way the president is handling immigration issues. The same survey found 46 percent of respondents didn’t approve of the president’s immigration policies in January.
YouGov’s most recent poll also finds the president underwater. After the survey showed the majority of Americans approved of his immigration policies through April, the tide has turned in recent weeks. The late June survey now finds Trump with just a 45 percent approval rating on immigration.