While the federal government has given Florida officials its blessing to create an immigration detention center in the Everglades, tribal nations with ancestral ties to the land have not.
Leaders of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida are denouncing the development of “Alligator Alcatraz” in Big Cypress National Preserve.
They warn it would impact the environment in indigenous homelands and nearby tribal villages where members of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribe of Florida live, hunt, fish, gather and pray.
In a promotional video for the detention center, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the “virtually abandoned airport facility” in Big Cypress National Preserve is the “best” location because if “people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.”
But history shows this isn’t the case, indigenous people say.
“These lands are not empty stretches of wilderness, nor are they merely backdrops to policy decisions —they are living, breathing homelands, deeply tied to the cultural, spiritual and historical identity of Miccosukee and Florida Seminole people,” said Lewis J. Johnson, principal chief of Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, in a statement.
The detention center, which the state started building on June 23, is on land owned by Miami-Dade County. Gov. Ron DeSantis used emergency powers to take control of 39 square miles, including a 10,500-foot plane runway.
Officials say immediate control of the site is necessary for “coping with the emergency” that is federal immigration enforcement. They also plan to open a second temporary detention center at Camp Blanding in Clay County.
This old airstrip, called the Collier-Dade Training and Transition Airport, is the only remnant of what was supposed to be largest airport in the world. But as plans for what was to be the Everglades Jetport developed in the late 1960s, so did environmental concerns.
Officials stopped the project, located between Miami-Dade and Collier counties, in 1970.
Dan Summers, Collier County’s director of emergency management, told commissioners he wasn’t notified of the plans, but later learned the state’s goal was to have it operational by July 1.
Uthmeier has said the plan is to house up to 1,000 immigrants. The attorney general’s office did not respond to questions for comment regarding the tribal nations’ concerns.
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is on indigenous ancestral lands
The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes of Florida and Oklahoma can trace their ancestry back to Big Cypress for thousands of years, as they used the area for seasonal hunting grounds.
After the majority of Florida’s indigenous people were removed, the remaining were contained on the southernmost extent of their tribal hunting grounds. Now, there are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as several ceremonial grounds, burial grounds and gathering sites within the preserve.
“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here. The Big Cypress is part of us and we are a part of it,” said Talbert Cypress, chair of the Miccosukee Tribe, in 2024 testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
In a new statement, Cypress said the tribe is opposed to using ancestral lands to house a detention facility.
“The State would save substantial taxpayer dollars by pursing its goals at a different location with more existing infrastructure and less environmental and cultural impacts to the Big Cypress and Tribal lands,” he wrote.
In response, the governor’s office said “Alligator Alcatraz” wouldn’t require the removal of vegetation or any additional paving and construction.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management will set up temporary shelters used for natural disaster response to house detained immigrants. Water, sewage and power will be provided by mobile utility units, the governor’s office said, adding that “operations on site will be completely self-contained. Florida will continue to lead on immigration enforcement.”
At a June 25 press conference, DeSantis said if the state eventually buys the land from Miami-Dade County, it would use it temporarily and then “try to let the Everglades grow over.”
DeSantis argued there was “zero environmental” impact and that he fought to get Everglades restoration fully funded in this year’s budget – a long-drawn and contentious measure between the executive and the legislative branches that has yet to be signed by the governor.
He has until July 1, the first day the state plans to bring detainees to “Alligator Alcatraz,” to sign the budget.
Johnson, the principal chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, called the proximity of the detention facility to active villages, the Miccosukee Reserved Area and vital water conservation lands, “reckless.”
“Indigenous lands are not vacant – they are vital. Indigenous rights are not negotiable – they are inherent,” he said.
‘I’ve never seen these gates closed’
The state published its plans to build temporary detention centers across the state in mid-May, but the news about “Alligator Alcatraz” wasn’t announced until June 19.
Days later, the airstrip was closed.
“In all my years of living out here … I’ve never seen these gates closed,” said Miccosukee Tribe member and environmental advocate Betty Osceola in a TikTok video. Osceola’s village is within walking distance to the airstrip.
Osceola led a protest June 22 against the detention facility. Hundreds marched along Tamiami Trail, mostly on the south side of the highway. Some carried signs that read “From Colonization to Detention Camps? NO ICE CAMPS ON NATIVE LAND,” “Freedom for the Glades,” and “Stay out of my swamp,” a reference to the movie “Shrek.”
In Uthmeier’s promotional video for “Alligator Alcatraz,” he boasted that the facility is in the middle of the Everglades, which leaves detained immigrants with “nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
But the area is exactly where Florida’s indigenous people found refuge. The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes found shelter and escaped persecution and extermination – they hid, created villages on tree islands in the Everglades and along what is now known as Tamiami Trail.
“The Everglades is a unique ecosystem that is very fragile and is home to many not just alligators and pythons,” said Mariann Billie, Seminole Tribe of Florida Councilwoman of Big Cypress, in a Facebook post. “Our families live in the Everglades, and the Everglades helped us Seminole/Miccosukee survive during the wars.”
A spokesperson for the Seminole Tribe of Florida has not responded to requests for comment.
At the protest on Tamiami Trail on June 22, William “Popeye” Osceola, secretary of the Miccosukee Tribe, encouraged others to stay engaged and “in the fight” against the development of the “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“They’re trying to contain a group of people, take away their rights, their freedom, their ability to be free, to be sovereign. That’s literally why my people are out here to begin with, we don’t want history to keep repeating itself,” ‘Popeye’ Osceola said.
Chad Gillis contributed to this report. Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tribal nations band together to denounce ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ on Florida ancestral homelands
Reporting by Ana Goñi-Lessan, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
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