Overview

• Alligator Alcatraz began operations on July 1 at the Dade-Collier airstrip with 3,000 tented chain-link beds erected in eight days under a state-declared immigration emergency to bypass environmental review.
• Lawmakers touring the facility this week split along party lines, with Republicans commending its security and hygiene and Democrats decrying inhumane conditions including overcrowded cages and insect-infested food.
• Florida has fronted $450 million to start the camp and is pursuing FEMA’s Shelter and Services reimbursement while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has stated the department did not implement or fund the site.
• A Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times list of detainees shows about one-third have criminal convictions and over 250 are held solely for immigration violations, prompting questions about the camp’s security profile.
• Environmental and Indigenous groups including the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes have filed lawsuits under NEPA and the Endangered Species Act to block or halt operations on sacred Everglades wetlands.