President Trump has built a brand new detention center and he’s pretty proud of what he describes as “its ability to keep people where they’re supposed to be.”
The Everglades detention center is for immigrants whose status in the US is illegal. Its current nickname, “Alligator Alcatraz,” has a goofy etymology. At first, Trump wanted to reopen Alcatraz to hold criminal offenders who were also illegal immigrants as a symbolic statement, but after reports said it would be too expensive, he moved the plan to the middle of a Florida swamp that’s reportedly an ecological preservation area full of alligators and other reptiles. Although the actual construction is on an abandoned airfield and isn’t displacing wildlife, protesters mockingly called the facility “Alligator Alcatraz” — which, as you can probably guess, Trump fully embraced.
The detention center has a huge price tag of $450 million, according to France24, although it certainly doesn’t look like it. On Trump’s first spot check at the detention center, accompanied by the press, it was revealed to be just a warehouse full of cages fitted with bunk beds.
What does make sense about that construction, however, is that it only took eight days to build the entire thing. The Trump administration hopes the facility will eventually house 5,000 illegal immigrants who are apparently so dangerous that, according to Kristi Noem, some are even cannibals who will eat themselves if they have to.
Demonizing immigrants isn’t just incidental; it’s a ploy by the administration to normalize their dehumanization. Trump even started joking that if a person detained at the facility attempts to escape, they’d better run while zigzagging. Trump added, “We’re gonna teach them how to run away from alligators.” When asked if the location was meant to act as a deterrent for escapees who might get eaten by snakes and alligators, Trump responded, “I guess that’s the concept.”
According to Straight Arrow News, the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” is already facing a federal lawsuit. A group of environmentalists has accused the facility of threatening the Everglades’ ecological ecosystem and just straight up inhumane. One of the directors of the environmental groups said, “This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
The Everglades is believed to be home to over 200,000 alligators, and despite Trump seeing them as part of his cynical security, the number of human-alligator incidents is actually quite low. Since 1948, there haven’t even been 500 recorded alligator bites in Florida. Trump reportedly hasn’t fully given up on his initial Alcatraz plan either. According to him, some private prison owners have approached him with proposals on how to make it happen. Trump went on to assure that the plan is still very much on track.
Trump has weaponized just about every facet of American life since he started his second term. Anything and everything under the sun has been absorbed by the Trump campaign as a tool for MAGA’s never-ending culture wars. It was only a matter of time before they incorporated reptiles and amphibians.
