Florida is building a migrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” in South Florida.
Activity at the site since the announcement has been quick, with plans to open the facility at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in early July.
The decision has been greeted with criticism from environmentalists and leaders of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
It’s not the only Florida site Gov. Ron DeSantis said could become a temporary detention facility for immigrants. The Florida National Guard’s training facility at Camp Blanding near Jacksonville is being considered, DeSantis said June 25
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.
When could new Florida detention center be ready for use?
“Alligator Alcatraz” should be ready to receive detainees with 5,000 beds as soon as the first week of July, Uthmeier said in a podcast. “We don’t need to build a lot of brick and mortar.”
Uthmeier said he believes the facility will house both detained migrants from Florida as well as from other states around the country.
Ron DeSantis uses emergency powers to take control of airport
DeSantis’ office said in a June 24 statement to USA TODAY that he will use emergency powers to take control of the airport at the proposed site.
The governor’s office said state officials offered to buy the lot from Miami-Dade County, but Mayor Daniella Levine Cava responded with an “unreasonable” request of $190 million.
Where is Alligator Alcatraz in Florida?
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.
Alligator Alcatraz location map in South Florida
Alligator Alcatraz is located in a remote region in South Florida, which includes the Florida Everglades and Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area.
There are few roads and even fewer towns.
“It’s 30 square-mile-area is completely surrounded by the Everglades,” Uthmeier said.
“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. People get out, there’s not much waiting for ’em other than alligators and pythons.
“Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Ochopee, Florida, closest town to Alligator Alcatraz
Interstate 75 crosses South Florida about 20 miles north of Alligator Alcatraz. Access to the site currently is off Tamiami Trail, located about a mile south of the airport.
There also are a few rural roads traversing the area making up Big Cypress, including Cross Seminole Trail to the north and 11 Mile Road to the west.
There are a few campgrounds and parks, along with the Oasis Ranger Station Airstrip and several airboat tour companies, in the general area, according to Google Maps.
The closest communities to Alligator Alcatraz are Ochobee about 25 miles west along Tamiami Trail and the Miccosukee Indian Village about 10 miles southeast.
What is Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport?
“This is an old, virtually abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades,” Uthmeier said.
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.”
The facility was built in 1968 and originally known as the Everglades Jetport or Big Cypress Swamp Jetport, according to the National Park Service. It was intended to be the largest airport in the world, with six runways and a 1,000-foot-wide corridor linking it to both coasts.
Environmental concerns raised over Alligator Alcatraz
Environmental concerns are what shut down the Jetport plan, with work stopping in 1970.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a letter to Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie it was “imperative that we fully understand the scope and scale of the proposed use of the site and what will be developed, as the impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating.”
➤ What will be its potential impact on Everglades, immigrants?
“We fought this 55 years ago, the development of this site. It was a really damaging idea then. It remains an extremely dangerous idea,” said Eve Samples, executive director of the Friends of the Everglades advocacy group.
Why is Florida detention center being called ‘Alligator Alcatraz’?
The name Alligator Alcatraz was derived by a video on X posted by Uthmeier, who dubbed the proposed detention facility in the Everglades “Alligator Alcatraz” because of the wildlife along its perimeter.
The name was repeated in another post by DeSantis.
“People get out, there’s not much waiting for ’em other than alligators and pythons,” Uthmeier said.
“Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Contributors: Melina Khan, Ana Goñi-Lessan, USA Today
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Where is Alligator Alcatraz? Maps show how remote detention center is in Florida Everglades
Reporting by Cheryl McCloud and C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
