Ochopee, Florida—Communities Indigenous to Florida, such as the Miccosukee Tribe, with the support of the Florida Detention Coalition, are resisting the opening of an immigrant detention center at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport in Florida. The facility, which Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier calls “Alligator Alcatraz,” would cost the state $450 million to operate and is planned to open next month. According to news reports, construction is entirely underway as law enforcement and other vehicles have been seen transporting portable restrooms and industrial generators. If opened, the facility will have the capacity to detain 5,000 people, according to Uthmeier, increasing arrests and further terrorizing Florida communities. The land is operated by Miami-Dade County and paid for by taxpayers.
There are currently more than 59,000 people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, an all-time high. Trump's cruel detention expansion is exacerbating inhumane conditions and expanding human rights abuses, with increasing reports of death, medical neglect, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers meant to confuse and cut people off from their legal support, loved ones, and support networks. Just yesterday, ICE reported the death of Johnny Noviello, 49 while in ICE custody in Florida, marking a grim milestone of at least 10 deaths since the start of Trump’s presidency in January.
Advocates say that the location and lack of infrastructure of the inhumane camp proposed in Florida will put women, men, the elderly, and even children’s physical and mental wellbeing at risk. Surrounded by Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, this land is part of one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country. This week, the Senate is expected to vote on the reconciliation bill that allocates more than $100 billion for the continued kidnappings without due process by masked, state-sanctioned vigilantes, including a staggering $45 billion for unconstitutional detentions without due process.
A petition by Friends of the Everglades to stop the construction is currently being circulated.
Local Florida groups and national advocates offered the following statements:
Mich González and Katie Blankenship, Founding Partners of Sanctuary of the South, said:
“We cannot allow this desecration of Big Cypress National Preserve to take place. This construction goes against everything the Miccosukee Tribe, the Seminole Tribe, and the residents of South Florida have long fought for–to protect the Everglades. These sacred lands provide Miami-Dade County with clean drinking water and protect us from the escalating climate crisis threatening to destroy our environment, our homes, and our children’s futures. Moreover—with the border closed and overall migration to the U.S. at an all-time low under an increasingly authoritarian administration, there is no need for this fast-tracked, life-endangering facility.
DHS and ICE are spending billions of taxpayer dollars to terrorize our communities and build unnecessary cages that will lead to more premature death and family separation while lining the pockets of the prison industrial complex. Enough is enough! We must come together as a people to stop ICE’s campaign of violence and demand what we need—access to healthcare, education, and housing—in short, a dignified life for all our families.”
Bacardi Jackson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida, said:
“We are deeply concerned about the proposed immigration detention facility known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Converting a remote island in the Everglades into a prison-like complex for members of our communities is not just cruel and absurd — it underscores how our immigration system is increasingly being used to punish people rather than provide them with due process. There is no justification for locking people away in isolated, dangerous environments — let alone in a camp modeled after one of the most notorious prisons in American history. The name ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ reflects an intent to portray people fleeing hardship and trying to build a better life for themselves and their families as threats, which is both unnecessary and abusive. Even ICE detention centers in populated areas have well-documented histories of medical neglect, denial of legal access, human rights abuses, and systemic mistreatment. All people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, yet so many facilities have failed to meet this basic requirement. Building one in a remote, swampy location will only exacerbate those conditions, further isolating people from their loved ones, legal counsel, and basic necessities. We should reduce our reliance on detention altogether and invest in proven, community-based alternatives. Expanding this cruel system only serves to further erode basic civil and human rights.”
Renata Bozzetto, Deputy Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said,
“The rush to open this inhumane camp in July, during scorching hot Florida summer, while disappearing members of our communities -- moms, dads, grandmothers, children -- in tents in a swamp with no adequate facilities to sustain them, is simply meant and engineered to enact suffering. These human rights abuses on our tax dollars are not a ‘process’ but a chaotic stain on our history. Adding insult to injury, the county was offered $20 million of FEMA money during hurricane season for the land instead of the $195 million that it’s actually appraised for. You can’t make this stuff up!”
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, Policy Coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee FL said,
“Instead of rushing to build affordable housing, figuring out creative ways to help Floridians earn a living wage, and making sure that our communities are prepared for hurricane seasons, the DeSantis Administration is building an immigrant prison that no one has asked for. Alligator Alcatraz will become yet another place where grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts will disappear. This is the moment where we need our local government to stand up to a power-hungry governor, protect tribal lands, and protect the gains that we’ve made when it comes to protecting our environment. No matter how unpopular it is, this is the moment to stand up for human rights and dignity.”
Nery Lopez, Senior Organizer with Detention Watch Network, said,
“Trump is detaining people at an alarming rate, with the support of Governor DeSantis. Florida’s First Nations communities, environmentalists, and Florida residents are joining together to resist Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda, including the construction of an immigrant detention center proposed in the Florida Everglades. Nationwide, there are nearly 60,000 people detained right now, and at least 10 people have died in ICE custody since Trump took office in January. Across the country, everyday people from all walks of life are fighting back and uniting to protect family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors by calling to shut down existing human-rights abuse centers and blocking ICE proposals to build new ones. We fully support the local resistance in Florida to oppose ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and detention centers across the state of Florida.”
Farah Al Jallad, Migrant Justice Organizer with Florida Student Power, said,
“Florida communities could be thriving at this moment, but instead our legislators have decided they want to see their own communities suffer. Over $400 MILLION of our state dollars will go to Alligator Alcatraz EVERY year. Instead of investing in education or the rising cost of living, which our communities are desperately asking for, they are focused on building a center that will terrorize our community members and destroy our ecosystems.”
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Sanctuary of the South (SOS) is a workers collaborative with a mission of justice and liberation through communal love and support. We are a network serving and rooted in the South providing legal services, growing sanctuary spaces, and supporting grassroots projects with the aim of forever breaking the systems of oppression that have kept us separated from our collective joy and power.
Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.
The ACLU of Florida, the state affiliate of the national ACLU, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending the civil liberties and rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Through litigation, legislation, and public education, the ACLU of Florida strives to ensure that the rights and freedoms of all Floridians are protected. For more information, visit https://www.aclufl.org.