Protesters in Florida demonstrate against proposed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Hundreds of people lined a Florida Everglades highway Saturday to protest the construction of an immigrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” as a steady stream of trucks carrying materials rolled by.

The facility is projected to cost about $450 million annually and was fast-tracked under emergency powers from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Part of the funding will come from a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that was used to house asylum seekers during the Biden administration.

The proposal from the Florida government also urged the Trump administration to waive some existing standards for detention centers. The state has estimated that as many as 5,000 immigration detention beds could be operational in the facility by July, mostly through temporary structures like heavy-duty tents and trailers.

Protesters on Saturday expressed a wide variety of reasons for opposing the detention center, from environmental degradation to concerns about immigration raids. 

Native American leaders have also expressed concern over the construction for its proximity to traditional villages as well as ceremonial and burial grounds.

The center will be located on a rarely used remote airstrip outside Miami, which state officials have touted as allowing them to easily fly migrants in and out. 

Despite opposition from local Miami leaders, the state took over the property under DeSantis’s emergency powers from a 2023 executive order that declared immigration a state emergency. 

“Governor DeSantis has insisted that the state of Florida, under his leadership, will facilitate the federal government in enforcing immigration law,” the governor’s office said in a statement to The Hill earlier this week. “Utilizing this space and/or others around the state, Florida will continue to lead in immigration enforcement.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.