From the Associated Press: President Donald Trump said a new immigration detention center in a remote area of the Florida Everglades, surrounded by alligator-filled swamps, could be a model for future projects as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.
The facility, which Trump toured Tuesday, has swiftly become a symbol of the president’s border crackdown. Migrants could start arriving there soon after his visit, which included walking through a medical facility featuring temporary cubicles as areas for treatment.
Arrested illegal aliens could start arriving at the new detention facility as early as Wednesday. The facility, with tents and trailers, has been built at the old Dade-Collier Training Airport in Ochopee, Florida, which is an airstrip typically used after natural disasters.
The new detention facility has been dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’.
President Trump was welcomed at the airport by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The two were also joined by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, as they toured the facility, and then spoke to the press.
A reporter asked, “Is this the model going forward, Mr. President?”
Trump replied, “It can be. You don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. We have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators… I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long.”
REPORTER: Is this the model going forward, Mr. President?@POTUS: “It can be. You don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. We have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators… I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long.” pic.twitter.com/5IvP8ZAWkI
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
.@POTUS and @Sec_Noem on the ground at “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades pic.twitter.com/di8AZY95bD
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
Trump was seen being given a tour of a tent where bunk beds are located in a prison-like facility. A reporter noted that the tents are air conditioned.
.@POTUS joins @Sec_Noem and @GovRonDeSantis for a tour of the “Alligator Alcatraz” illegal immigrant detention facility in the Everglades pic.twitter.com/u8f5izSjtw
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
A reporter asked Trump, “What’s your message to Governor Gavin Newsom inside this facility?”
“The first thing he should do is come here and learn something,” Trump retorted.
Reporter: “What’s your message to Governor Gavin Newsom inside this facility?”@POTUS: “The first thing he should do is come here and learn something.” pic.twitter.com/s1QrcURzve
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
“Biden wanted me in here … but it didn’t work out that way,” Trump quipped.
.@POTUS: “Biden wanted me in here … Didn’t work out that way.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/pP76ik1huq
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
Someone else asked Trump about his relationship with DeSantis, after their bitter Republican primary in 2024.
“I think it’s a 10 — maybe 9.9… might be a couple of little wounds… I think we have a 10 … We get along great,” Trump replied as DeSantis laughed.
.@POTUS on his relationship with @GovRonDeSantis: “I think it’s a 10 — maybe 9.9 … We get along great.” pic.twitter.com/BrNMNVBUoC
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
Noem stressed that no one has to come to this facility. They can self-deport and go home, they can come back legally. “But if you wait, and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get the chance to come back to America,” she warned.
.@Sec_Noem: “People don’t have to come here. If they self-deport and go home, they can come back legally.” @POTUS: “And there is a lot of self-deportation.”@Sec_Noem: “But if you wait and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get to come back to America.” pic.twitter.com/izpsXn0AYw
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2025
WATCH BELOW as Trump, DeSantis and Noem then held a press conference at the facility.
READ MORE from the Associated Press.
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