Overview

• Construction at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport is underway using tents and trailers on an abandoned runway ringed by alligators and pythons
• The facility will add up to 5,000 detention beds across multiple Florida sites by early July at an annual operating cost of about $450 million
• The Department of Homeland Security has endorsed the project as a cost-effective element of President Trump’s mass deportation drive and plans to seek partial FEMA reimbursement
• Environmental advocates and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava have raised alarms over potential damage to the Everglades ecosystem and local water resources
• Alligator Alcatraz joins other state-backed detention expansions following earlier transfers of migrants to Guantánamo Bay and El Salvador’s CECOT facility