Deep in the Florida Everglades, a bold new immigration initiative is taking shape.
The site once intended to be the nation’s largest supersonic jetport is now being transformed into “Alligator Alcatraz,” a 5,000-bed detention center designed to house illegal aliens arrested across the country.
The former Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport will now serve a much different purpose, becoming a key part of President Trump’s mass deportation strategy.
Surrounded by 39 square miles of rugged swamp and dense wildlife in Big Cypress National Preserve, the facility's natural landscape serves as a built-in barrier.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said, “Mother Nature does a lot on the perimeter,” making expensive fencing or traditional prison walls largely unnecessary.
The area is home to alligators, snakes, panthers, and bears, making escape nearly impossible.
Uthmeier called the facility “a one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” emphasizing that detainees will have “nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Construction began earlier this week, with a network of large tents and permanent structures in progress.
The $450 million annual cost will be partially reimbursed by the federal government, according to DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.
During an interview on “CUOMO,” Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan defended the project, calling it both necessary and cost-effective.
He stated, “Everybody we arrest, we need a bed,” adding that the extra capacity would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “target more criminals throughout the country,” as reported by News Nation.
Homan explained that this facility will be significantly cheaper than the Biden administration’s previous approach, which involved placing illegal immigrants in New York City hotels.
“They were putting illegal aliens in hotel rooms in New York City for like 500 bucks a night, and that’s a fact,” Homan said.
“Then they had to pay for food, three meals a day. They had to pay for medical care, they had to pay for attorney access, all these other things were added to that 500 bucks a night. So who knows what the cost was really?”
In contrast, the beds at Alligator Alcatraz cost under $300 per person per day, which includes food, full medical staffing, and transportation infrastructure.
Thanks to the airstrip onsite, detainees can be deported directly from the facility, further reducing expenses.
“We can simply load a plane right there and take them to their home country,” Homan said, calling the setup “extreme cost savings” when compared to prior administrations.
The facility is not just about detaining individuals; it is part of a broader effort to enforce immigration laws more aggressively.
As Homan recently told a policy conference in Washington, President Trump tasked him with three objectives: secure the border, launch the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, and locate over 290,000 non-citizen children reported missing during the Biden administration.
Homan proudly reported that border crossings have dropped by over 96 percent under Trump’s leadership.
He also confirmed that ICE is making more arrests and rescuing missing children, some of whom were found in dangerous conditions, including a 14-year-old pregnant girl living with two adult men.
The Alligator Alcatraz project reflects a shift toward real enforcement and accountability.
Instead of rewarding illegal entry with hotel stays and legal perks, this new approach holds violators in a secure, isolated, and cost-conscious facility until they can be processed or deported.
By backing initiatives like Alligator Alcatraz, Homan and Trump are doing exactly what they promised: protecting American communities, restoring law and order, and fixing a broken immigration system with common-sense solutions.
