Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that other states are in the process of building Alligator Alcatraz-style detention centers to hold alleged undocumented immigrants.
Nestled in the Florida Everglades about 45 miles from Miami, the sprawling facility is quickly becoming one of the most controversial symbols of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Last week, Noem praised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during a recent news conference for collaborating with the DHS, adding that five Republican governors have explored building similar facilities in their own states.
“We've had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us, as well,” Noem said Saturday, without naming the states.
“I'm having ongoing conversations with five other governors about facilities that they may have.”
Noem said that she cannot share the governors’ names but stated that announcements will be forthcoming soon.
The DHS secretary said the Trump administration’s objective is clear: double the capacity of immigration detention centers and remove undocumented people from the country “as fast as possible.”
Spokespersons for governors Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, and Greg Abbott of Texas told NewsNation Thursday that they are ready to assist in the president's mass deportation program. McMaster’s office said “nothing is off the table.”
Meanwhile, South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace said earlier this month that “we’ve got a swamp and a dream,” urging the DHS, “let’s talk.”
“South Carolina’s gators are ready. And they’re not big on paperwork,” she said.
Alligator Alcatraz received its first detainees on July 1, the day Noem and Trump toured the facility. Hundreds of alleged undocumented migrants are held behind chain-link fences inside tents.
Facing criticism from Democrats over alleged inhumane conditions, which they said see “32 detainees per cage,” Noem sought to downplay the concerns.
“I’ve been there and I wouldn’t call them jail cells,” she told Kristin Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press on Saturday. “I would call them a facility where they are held and are secure facilities.
The sprawling immigration facility, which has a capacity for 3,000 people, was built at breakneck speed on the largely abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
Trump heralded the remote, maximum-security facility as a place to hold the “most menacing migrants.”
However, a preliminary review of the more than 700 people being held at the temporary facility found that just one-third of detainees had criminal convictions, according to The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
Around 250 people listed in the facility had immigration violations, which are civil offenses.
There are, however, multiple detainees being held who were convicted of crimes ranging from burglary to murder, according to Fox News.
