President Trump is scheduled to visit “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades Tuesday, July 1.
He won’t be alone.
During his visit of the temporary migrant detention center being built in Big Cypress National Preserve off Tamiami Trail in South Florida, meetings are planned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, along with several others.
What is Alligator Alcatraz?
“Alligator Alcatraz” is the nickname for a planned temporary immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.
The site is what Florida State Attorney General James Uthmeier called the “virtually abandoned” Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airport facility with a 10,500-foot runway.
➤ Live updates: President Trump visits Alligator Alcatraz near Florida Everglades
➤Watch live: Trump visits Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigrant detention site
Where is Alligator Alcatraz located? Map shows Florida location
Alligator Alcatraz is being built at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airport facility with a 10,500-foot runway.
The former airstrip and training base in the Everglades is located in South Florida, off U.S. 41, also known as Tamiami Trail.
The site is about 60 miles east of Naples as the crow flies, or about 40 miles west of Miami.
“It presents an efficient low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
“People get out, there’s not much waiting for ’em other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Map: Where is Alligator Alcatraz being built?
Alligator Alcatraz is being built at the former Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport.
The facility was constructed in 1968 and originally known as the Everglades Jetport or Big Cypress Swamp Jetport, according to the National Park Service.
According to the Miami International Airport, the Dade-Collier Airport is used as a training facility for “commercial pilots, private training, and a small number of military touch-and-goes.”
Is Alligator Alcatraz a prison?
Alligator Alcatraz is a planned temporary immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, intended to alleviate a spike in the capacity of state and national detention centers as Trump’s administration vows to increase the pace of immigrant apprehensions and their removal from the United States.
It’s intended to house about 5,000 detainees as early as this week, Uthmeier said in a podcast in late June.
Uthmeier said he believes the facility will house both detained migrants from Florida as well as from other states around the country.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a June 24 statement to USA TODAY he would use emergency powers to take control of the airport at the proposed site after an offer to buy it from Miami-Dade County was met with an “unreasonable” request of $190 million.
Where is Ochopee, Florida? How close it is to Alligator Alcatraz?
The closest communities to Alligator Alcatraz are Ochobee, about 25 miles west along Tamiami Trail, and the Miccosukee Indian Village, about 10 miles southeast.
Roundtable discussion planned at Alligator Alcatraz
According to the White House, Trump will participate in a roughly one-hour walking tour of the facility around 10 a.m., followed by a roundtable discussion shortly after 11 a.m. with the following participants:
Group files lawsuit to stop Alligator Alcatraz
On June 27, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to “halt the unlawful construction of a prison in the heart of the Everglades.”
➤ What will be its potential impact on Everglades, immigrants?
Later on June 27, the groups filed an expedited motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo while the legal issues are resolved.
Alligator Alcatraz merch
There’s even Alligator Alcatraz merchandise for sale online.
The Florida GOP announced gator-themed T-shirts, hats and can koozies in a fundraising notice sent to supporters, according to Scripps reporter Forrest Saunders. The items are prominently featured at the party’s online store.
Contributing: Mark H. Bickel, Naples Daily News; Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post; Kim Luciani, USA Today Network-Florida
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Where is Alligator Alcatraz and why is Trump visiting? 8 things to know about detention center
Reporting by Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
