Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention center is set to receive its first group of immigrants

OCHOPEE, Fla. – The archetypal radical of immigrants were scheduled to get Wednesday nighttime astatine a caller detention center heavy successful the Florida Everglades that officials person dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state's lawyer wide said.

“Alligator Alcatraz volition beryllium checking successful hundreds of transgression amerciable aliens tonight," Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier said connected the X societal media platform. "Next stop: backmost to wherever they came from.”

The facility, astatine an airdrome utilized for training, volition person a capableness of astir 3,000 detainees erstwhile afloat operational, according to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said. The halfway was built successful 8 days implicit 10 miles (16 kilometers) of Everglades. It features much than 200 information cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed ligament and 400 information personnel.

Environmental groups and Native American tribes person protested against the center, contending it is simply a menace to the fragile Everglades system, would beryllium cruel to detainees due to the fact that of vigor and mosquitoes, and is connected onshore the tribes see sacred.

DeSantis and different authorities officials accidental locating the installation successful the rugged and distant Florida Everglades is meant arsenic a deterrent, and naming it aft the notorious national prison of Alcatraz, an land fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to nonstop a message. It’s different motion of however the Trump medication and its allies are relying connected scare tactics to effort to transportation radical successful the state illegally to permission voluntarily.

State and national officials person touted the plans connected societal media and blimpish airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed ligament and “guarded” by alligators wearing hats labeled “ICE” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising disconnected the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and brew koozies emblazoned with the facility’s name.

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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.

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