There’s a lot of activity going on this morning, July 1, in the Everglades.
And it doesn’t involve alligators or pythons … as of now.
President Donald Trump is there to take a walking tour July 1 of a temporary migrant detention center being referred to as Alligator Alcatraz in South Florida.
➤ Live updates: President Trump visits Alligator Alcatraz near Florida Everglades
The detention center is being built in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 44 miles southeast of Naples. The closest community is Ochopee.
Trump will looking at the progress of converting an airstrip and training base in the Everglades into an overflow detention site.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office announced the state will be using emergency powers to seize the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport away from Miami-Dade County.
Protesters, led by environmental groups and Native Americans who want to protect their ancestorial lands, have been demonstrating since the news first came out the migrant detention center was going to be built.
Where is Ochopee, Florida, site of Alligator Alcatraz detention center?
Ochopee is an unincorporated community in Collier County. It is part of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.
➤Watch live: Trump visits Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigrant detention site
It is located to the east of the intersection of U.S. 41, also known as Tamiami Trail, and State Road 29.
Ochopee is about 36 miles northeast of Naples and about 75 miles west of Miami.
What is Ochopee known for? How big is it?
According to greatdata.com, Ochopee’s population as of July 2025 was 131 people.
Among the things to do in Ochopee listed by tripadvisor.com were plenty of eco tours and airboat rides in the Everglades, along with a visit to the Skunk Ape Research Center.
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.”
What is Alligator Alcatraz?
“Alligator Alcatraz” is the nickname for a planned temporary immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.
➤ What is Alligator Alcatraz? What will be its potential impact on Everglades, immigrants?
The site is what Uthmeier called the “virtually abandoned” Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airport facility with a 10,500-foot runway.
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 others from other states around the country.
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.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Where is Ochopee, Florida? See where small community is in relation to Alligator Alcatraz
Reporting by Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
