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Edmonton Journal
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
U.S. immigration detainees start to arrive at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' in the Everglades
Article content In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened 'Alligator Alcatraz,' modelled after the state's frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. Article content It's been less than two weeks since the state seized the property from Miami-Dade County. Massive tents have been erected and a steady stream of trucks carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials have been driving through the site inside the Big Cypress National Preserve around the clock in what environmentalists fear will have a devastating impact on the wildlife in the protected wetlands. Article content Article content 'We are dealing with a storm,' said Jae Williams, spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is credited as the architect behind the proposal. 'And the storm's name is immigration.' Article content Article content The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost US$450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami. Article content Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Article content Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become permanent. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. Article content Article content 'The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project. Article content Article content Some GOP donors whose companies helped build and will assist in running the facility are being given seven-figure sums. Five Democratic state lawmakers who tried to visit the site Thursday issued a statement calling it 'a pay-for-play scheme to enrich GOP donors under the pretense of border enforcement.' One of the lawmakers, state Sen. Shevrin Jones, posted on social media that they were denied access. Article content Hot, humid summers; regular flooding; and wildlife that includes alligators and venomous snakes make the area where the detention center is located inhospitable to long-term living.
Vancouver Sun
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
U.S. immigration detainees start to arrive at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' in the Everglades
In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened 'Alligator Alcatraz,' modelled after the state's frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. It's been less than two weeks since the state seized the property from Miami-Dade County. Massive tents have been erected and a steady stream of trucks carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials have been driving through the site inside the Big Cypress National Preserve around the clock in what environmentalists fear will have a devastating impact on the wildlife in the protected wetlands. 'We are dealing with a storm,' said Jae Williams, spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is credited as the architect behind the proposal. 'And the storm's name is immigration.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost US$450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami. Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become permanent. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. 'The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project. Some GOP donors whose companies helped build and will assist in running the facility are being given seven-figure sums. Five Democratic state lawmakers who tried to visit the site Thursday issued a statement calling it 'a pay-for-play scheme to enrich GOP donors under the pretense of border enforcement.' One of the lawmakers, state Sen. Shevrin Jones, posted on social media that they were denied access. Hot, humid summers; regular flooding; and wildlife that includes alligators and venomous snakes make the area where the detention center is located inhospitable to long-term living. For the state emergency management staff leading the project, it wasn't unlike responding to another hurricane, just with more chain-link fencing, and barbed wire stretching more than 28,000 feet, according to state officials. Florida's leaders pride themselves on the state's disaster response capabilities, an expertise sharpened by tropical storms that sweep ashore year after year. Florida had a system and a command structure, as well as a fleet of vendors ready to help set up portable generators, floodlights, temporary kitchens and bathrooms, officials said. 'We understand how to act fast without bureaucracy in the face of any emergency,' said Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's emergency management division, sitting alongside DeSantis and Trump in one of the temporary shelters during an unveiling event at the facility. 'We're able to translate this knowledge to what we did here,' Guthrie added. Human rights advocates say this is not a storm, but people — people who could be left indefinitely in inhumane conditions. Uthmeier said the location had the advantages of an existing site and a 10,500-foot (3,200 meters) runway, with the Everglades serving as a natural security perimeter. For DeSantis, the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent from escape, much like the California island fortress Republicans named it after. It's also another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. Vendors chosen for the project include Lemoine CDR Logistics and CDR Health Care, companies led by Carlos Duart, a major Republican donor who along with his businesses have given millions of dollars to political committees for DeSantis, Trump and other GOP candidates, according to federal records. CDR Companies has been a go-to vendor for the state for years, and it provides engineering, emergency management and health care services across the country. Duart confirmed his companies' involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they're providing, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, 'we get chosen because we do exceptional work.' A database of state contracts also showed that Granny's Alliance Holdings Inc. signed a US$3.3 million contract to provide meals at the facility. IRG Global Emergency Management had inked a US$1.1 million deal to provide 'flight and operational support' services. Some of the company's vehicles were seen at the facility, according to images shared with the AP. In a sign of its importance to the Trump administration's immigration agenda, the president toured the facility Tuesday. The White House posted on its social media account a graphic of the president standing besides alligators sporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement ball caps under text of 'Alligator Alcatraz: Make America Safe Again.' In recent decades, US$3.9 billion in federal and state funds have been allocated to restore grasslands in the Everglades. The ecosystem was degraded and transformed when a highway connecting Tampa and Miami was built in 1928. In response to the environmental groups' lawsuit over the detention center, the federal government said in court papers that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hadn't authorized or funded the facility, which the state built and will operate. However, Florida plans to seek payment from the federal government. DeSantis has described it as temporary, with no plans for sewers, and claims there will be 'zero impact' on the Everglades. His administration reiterated that stance in court papers responding to the lawsuit. But opponents still fear it will become permanent. 'If it becomes more permanent, that is a bigger concern since that permanently evicts these species from the site so they can never come back,' said Elise Bennett, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which also joined the lawsuit trying to stop the construction. 'Our concerns are great now and will only become greater as this project proceeds.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
San Francisco Chronicle
03-07-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Republican donors and Florida's hurricane know-how helped build 'Alligator Alcatraz' so quickly
In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened "Alligator Alcatraz,' modeled after the state's frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. It's been less than two weeks since the state seized the property from Miami-Dade County. Massive tents have been erected and a steady stream of trucks carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials have been driving through the site inside the Big Cypress National Preserve around the clock in what environmentalists fear will have a devastating impact on the wildlife in the protected wetlands. 'We are dealing with a storm,' said Jae Williams, spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is credited as the architect behind the proposal. 'And the storm's name is immigration.' The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost $450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami. Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become permanent. 'The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project. Some GOP donors whose companies helped build and will assist in running the facility are being given seven-figure sums. Five Democratic state lawmakers who visited the site Thursday issued a statement calling it 'a pay-for-play scheme to enrich GOP donors under the pretense of border enforcement.' Florida built 'Alligator Alcatraz' using expertise from its response to hurricanes Hot, humid summers; regular flooding; and wildlife that includes alligators and venomous snakes make the area where the detention center is located inhospitable to long-term living. For the state emergency management staff leading the project, it wasn't unlike responding to another hurricane, just with more chain-link fencing, and barbed wire stretching more than 28,000 feet, according to state officials. Florida's leaders pride themselves on the state's disaster response capabilities, an expertise sharpened by tropical storms that sweep ashore year after year. Florida had a system and a command structure, as well as a fleet of vendors ready to help set up portable generators, floodlights, temporary kitchens and bathrooms, officials said. 'We understand how to act fast without bureaucracy in the face of any emergency,' said Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's emergency management division, sitting alongside DeSantis and Trump in one of the temporary shelters during an unveiling event at the facility. 'We're able to translate this knowledge to what we did here," Guthrie added. Human rights advocates say this is not a storm, but people — people who could be left indefinitely in inhumane conditions. Uthmeier said the location had the advantages of an existing site and a 10,500-foot (3,200 meters) runway, with the Everglades serving as a natural security perimeter. For DeSantis, the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent from escape, much like the California island fortress Republicans named it after. It's also another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. GOP donors will get paid for 'Alligator Alcatraz' work Vendors chosen for the project include Lemoine CDR Logistics and CDR Health Care, companies led by Carlos Duart, a major Republican donor who along with his businesses have given millions of dollars to political committees for DeSantis, Trump and other GOP candidates, according to federal records. CDR Companies has been a go-to vendor for the state for years, and it provides engineering, emergency management and health care services across the country. Duart confirmed his companies' involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they're providing, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, 'we get chosen because we do exceptional work.' A database of state contracts also showed that Granny's Alliance Holdings Inc. signed a $3.3 million contract to provide meals at the facility. IRG Global Emergency Management had inked a $1.1 million deal to provide 'flight and operational support" services. Some of the company's vehicles were seen at the facility, according to images shared with the AP. In a sign of its importance to the Trump administration's immigration agenda, the president toured the facility Tuesday. The White House posted on its social media account a graphic of the president standing besides alligators sporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement ball caps under text of 'Alligator Alcatraz: Make America Safe Again.' The Everglades ecosystem is fragile In recent decades, $3.9 billion in federal and state funds have been allocated to restore grasslands in the Everglades. The ecosystem was degraded and transformed when a highway connecting Tampa and Miami was built in 1928. In response to the environmental groups' lawsuit over the detention center, the federal government said in court papers that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hadn't authorized or funded the facility, which the state built and will operate. However, Florida plans to seek payment from the federal government. DeSantis has described it as temporary, with no plans for sewers, and claims there will be 'zero impact' on the Everglades. His administration reiterated that stance in court papers responding to the lawsuit. But opponents still fear it will become permanent. 'If it becomes more permanent, that is a bigger concern since that permanently evicts these species from the site so they can never come back,' said Elise Bennett, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which also joined the lawsuit trying to stop the construction. 'Our concerns are great now and will only become greater as this project proceeds.' ___
Winnipeg Free Press
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Republican donors and Florida's hurricane know-how helped build ‘Alligator Alcatraz' so quickly
In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened 'Alligator Alcatraz,' modeled after the state's frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. It's been less than two weeks since the state seized the property from Miami-Dade County. Massive tents have been erected and a steady stream of trucks carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials have been driving through the site inside the Big Cypress National Preserve around the clock in what environmentalists fear will have a devastating impact on the wildlife in the protected wetlands. 'We are dealing with a storm,' said Jae Williams, spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is credited as the architect behind the proposal. 'And the storm's name is immigration.' The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost $450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami. Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become permanent. 'The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project. Some GOP donors whose companies helped build and will assist in running the facility are being given seven-figure sums. Five Democratic state lawmakers who visited the site Thursday issued a statement calling it 'a pay-for-play scheme to enrich GOP donors under the pretense of border enforcement.' Florida built 'Alligator Alcatraz' using expertise from its response to hurricanes Hot, humid summers; regular flooding; and wildlife that includes alligators and venomous snakes make the area where the detention center is located inhospitable to long-term living. For the state emergency management staff leading the project, it wasn't unlike responding to another hurricane, just with more chain-link fencing, and barbed wire stretching more than 28,000 feet, according to state officials. Florida's leaders pride themselves on the state's disaster response capabilities, an expertise sharpened by tropical storms that sweep ashore year after year. Florida had a system and a command structure, as well as a fleet of vendors ready to help set up portable generators, floodlights, temporary kitchens and bathrooms, officials said. 'We understand how to act fast without bureaucracy in the face of any emergency,' said Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's emergency management division, sitting alongside DeSantis and Trump in one of the temporary shelters during an unveiling event at the facility. 'We're able to translate this knowledge to what we did here,' Guthrie added. Human rights advocates say this is not a storm, but people — people who could be left indefinitely in inhumane conditions. Uthmeier said the location had the advantages of an existing site and a 10,500-foot (3,200 meters) runway, with the Everglades serving as a natural security perimeter. For DeSantis, the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent from escape, much like the California island fortress Republicans named it after. It's also another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. GOP donors will get paid for 'Alligator Alcatraz' work Vendors chosen for the project include Lemoine CDR Logistics and CDR Health Care, companies led by Carlos Duart, a major Republican donor who along with his businesses have given millions of dollars to political committees for DeSantis, Trump and other GOP candidates, according to federal records. CDR Companies has been a go-to vendor for the state for years, and it provides engineering, emergency management and health care services across the country. Duart confirmed his companies' involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they're providing, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, 'we get chosen because we do exceptional work.' A database of state contracts also showed that Granny's Alliance Holdings Inc. signed a $3.3 million contract to provide meals at the facility. IRG Global Emergency Management had inked a $1.1 million deal to provide 'flight and operational support' services. Some of the company's vehicles were seen at the facility, according to images shared with the AP. In a sign of its importance to the Trump administration's immigration agenda, the president toured the facility Tuesday. The White House posted on its social media account a graphic of the president standing besides alligators sporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement ball caps under text of 'Alligator Alcatraz: Make America Safe Again.' The Everglades ecosystem is fragile In recent decades, $3.9 billion in federal and state funds have been allocated to restore grasslands in the Everglades. The ecosystem was degraded and transformed when a highway connecting Tampa and Miami was built in 1928. In response to the environmental groups' lawsuit over the detention center, the federal government said in court papers that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hadn't authorized or funded the facility, which the state built and will operate. However, Florida plans to seek payment from the federal government. DeSantis has described it as temporary, with no plans for sewers, and claims there will be 'zero impact' on the Everglades. His administration reiterated that stance in court papers responding to the lawsuit. But opponents still fear it will become permanent. 'If it becomes more permanent, that is a bigger concern since that permanently evicts these species from the site so they can never come back,' said Elise Bennett, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which also joined the lawsuit trying to stop the construction. 'Our concerns are great now and will only become greater as this project proceeds.' ___ Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
San Francisco Chronicle
03-07-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
First immigration detainees arrive at Florida center in the Everglades
The first group of immigrants has arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press. 'People are there,' Press Secretary Jae Williams said, though he didn't immediately provide further details on the number of detainees or when they arrived. 'Next stop: back to where they came from,' Uthmeier said on the X social media platform Wednesday. He's been credited as the architect behind the Everglades proposal. 'Stood up in record time under @GovRonDeSantis ' leadership & in coordination with @DHSgov & @ICEgov, Florida is proud to help facilitate @realDonaldTrump 's mission to enforce immigration law,' the account for the Florida Division of Emergency Management posted to the social media site X on Thursday. Requests for additional information from the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and FDEM, which is building the site, were not returned early Thursday afternoon. The facility, at an airport used for training, will have an initial capacity of about 3,000 detainees, DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days and features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel. Immigrants who are arrested by Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government's 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to an official in President Donald Trump's administration. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation. The facility is expected to be expanded in 500 bed increments until it has an estimated 5,000 beds by early July. A group of Florida Democratic state lawmakers headed to the facility Thursday to conduct 'an official legislative site visit,' citing concerns about conditions for detainees and the awarding of millions of dollars in state contracts for the construction. 'As lawmakers, we have both the legal right and moral responsibility to inspect this site, demand answers, and expose this abuse before it becomes the national blueprint,' the legislators said in a joint statement ahead of the visit. Federal agencies signaled their opposition Thursday to a lawsuit brought by environmental groups seeking to halt operations at the detention center. Though Trump applauded the center during an official tour earlier this week, the filing on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security seemed to try to distance his administration from the facility, and said no federal money to date has been spent on it. 'DHS has not implemented, authorized, directed, or funded Florida's temporary detention center. Florida is constructing and operating the facility using state funds on state lands under state emergency authority and a preexisting general delegation of federal authority to implement immigration functions,' the U.S. filing says. Human rights advocates and Native American tribes have also protested against the center, contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred. It's also located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening. State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph (154 and 177 kph), and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred. According to images shared with the AP, overnight Wednesday, workers put up new signs labeled 'Alligator Alcatraz' along the sole highway leading to the site and outside the entrance of the airfield that has been known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. State officials seized the county-owned land where the facility is located using emergency powers authorized by an executive order issued by the governor. DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent — and naming it after the notorious federal prison of Alcatraz, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It's another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and 'guarded' by alligators wearing hats labeled 'ICE' for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name.
