White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt horrified critics with her enthusiastic description of the Trump administration’s new immigration detention center in Florida’s Everglades, which she confirmed is being informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” Huff post
Leavitt, during a press briefing on Monday, excitedly invited journalists to Tuesday’s official opening of the center at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. The event will be attended by President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, she said.
Trump additionally was asked about the site prior to his visit today. The center, fast-tracked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is located deep in the state’s Everglades wetlands on the site of the abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
DHS ignited backlash over the weekend after sharing on social media an AI-generated image promoting a controversial immigration detention center ― that’s been dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” ― that is proposed for Florida’s Everglades. Alligator Auschwitz has been its name on social media stating this is not a prison as no due process has occurred, these detainees are there in a system working outside of the judicial process.
Environmental groups fear the site will harm the Everglades’ ecosystem, which is teeming with massive reptiles, including alligators and Burmese pythons. Some Native American leaders claim the center encroaches on sacred land. There are 15 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, in Big Cypress National Preserve, where the airstrip is located. Human rights activists have called the facility inhumane and raised issues with potentially thousands of people being housed in temporary tents and trailers during Florida’s hurricane season . News Nation
