Determined to expand its assault on immigrants, the Florida state government has completed construction of a massive immigrant detention facility deep in the Everglades, officially named Alligator Alcatraz. Announced in mid-June, construction moved forward with stunning speed. Ignoring Indigenous sovereignty, environmental laws, and public backlash, authorities completed the detention center in a mere eight days.
This aggressive use of public lands and services, including the use of millions of dollars in FEMA funds, was carried out not in order to respond to the real needs of Floridians, but in order to wage war on immigrants in a purposefully theatrical and cruel way.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has made it clear that Alligator Alcatraz is only the beginning. The state has already broken ground on a new ICE facility in Jacksonville, and the governor has hinted at plans for a third in the Panhandle — regions where he has just slashed funds allocated for public services from the state budget. Libraries are shuttering, public health programs are being cut, and teachers are being laid off while hundreds of millions in public funds are used to enrich private contractors and fund ICE operations.
Crucial services hijacked to build the deportation machine
The construction of Alligator Alcatraz is led by the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), an agency that is tasked with preparing for and responding to disasters throughout the state. While FDEM was originally meant to respond to hurricanes and similar disasters, Governor Ron DeSantis has made it a core part of his state-wide deportation agenda.
He has managed to do this under the authority he granted himself in January of 2023, when he declared a state of emergency in response to what he then called “the Biden Border Crisis.” Although immigration into the state has decreased dramatically since the time it was announced, DeSantis has continued to renew this state of emergency the past two years.
These emergency powers have been crucial in positioning Florida as “the tip of the spear” in the nationwide assault on immigrants. It was these powers that allowed DeSantis to seize the public lands that the Everglades detention center was built on. These powers have also allowed the governor to bypass regulatory oversight, including the need for an environmental review, despite hastily building in the fragile and ecologically critical Big Cypress National Reserve. The state of emergency is also how the governor has managed to do all of this without the agreement of the public or even of the local governments whose lands and resources his office has seized.
The irony is obvious: at the beginning of hurricane season, while large parts of the state have still not recovered from the government’s cruel mismanagement of Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year, Florida’s crucial emergency response services are being used to build a detention center in one of the most storm-prone areas in the country.
Political theater putting lives at risk
In addition to the close relationship that the DeSantis administration has forged between Florida law enforcement and ICE, this repurposing of state services puts immigrants (or whoever “looks” like an immigrant) in the crosshairs of this police state apparatus.
Nearly half of all deaths in ICE detention centers this year have occurred in Florida, mostly at the notorious Krome Detention Center in Miami. And in a state which failed to evacuate thousands of inmates directly in the path of Hurricane Milton last year, many have rightly asked whether the government can guarantee the safety of the thousands of detainees they plan to house in the tent-and-trailer facilities at Alligator Alcatraz.
This danger, in addition to the inhospitable natural environment surrounding the facility, seems to be a core part of what makes Alligator Alcatraz appealing to DeSantis and his allies in the Trump administration. When Trump, DeSantis, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the facility earlier this month, Noem and DeSantis repeatedly made the point that the danger of the facility is intended to encourage immigrants to “self-deport”.
Floridians fight back
On June 21, only two days after the plans to build the facility were announced, protesters had already begun gathering near the entrance to the site. Since then, a broad coalition of protesters—including Indigenous organizers, immigrant rights activists, and environmental groups—have maintained a consistent presence along the road leading into the camp.
Indigenous leaders from the Miccosukee and Seminole Nations have emphasized that the camp sits on stolen and sacred land, demanding the immediate dismantling of the facility and the return of the land to their stewardship. Environmental activists warn that the project is not only a human rights catastrophe but an ecological one, further endangering the fragile Everglades and deepening Florida’s vulnerability to flooding and storm surges.
Organizers have also emphasized the broader context: while DeSantis and his allies spend hundreds of millions on building detention camps, Floridians are facing skyrocketing rents, overwhelmed hospitals, and crumbling infrastructure in the face of intensifying climate disasters. As hurricane season intensifies, many are asking why resources are being siphoned into anti-immigrant theater rather than hurricane preparedness, housing stabilization, or basic public health services.
Yet, in the face of this cruelty, resistance is growing. Protests are continuing, mutual aid networks are mobilizing to support detainees and their families, and lawsuits have already been filed challenging the facility’s legality under state and federal law. While the state has chosen to bet on cruelty, Floridians across the state are betting on solidarity—building networks that refuse to abandon migrants to the violence of the state.
From the heart of the Everglades to the streets of Jacksonville and beyond, the fight against Alligator Alcatraz is a fight for a future where the wealth we collectively create is used to sustain life, not to pollute and cage it.