'Alligator Alcatraz' for deportations could devastate Everglades, Miami-Dade mayor says
Source: miamiherald.com
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ for deportations could devastate Everglades, Miami-Dade mayor says
By Douglas Hanks , Alex Harris and Ana Ceballos Updated June 23, 2025 6:25 PM
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article309222550.html#storylink=cpy
The latest plan by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to crack down on undocumented immigrants would involve emergency construction of a 1,000-bed detention center deep in the Everglades on swampy land owned by Miami-Dade County. On Monday, the county’s Democratic mayor attempted to slow the state’s efforts on the controversial idea.
Without explicitly opposing the overall concept, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava ticked off a string of barriers to the idea being pushed by both DeSantis and his former top aide, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has branded the proposed facility as “Alligator Alcatraz” for its remote location. “Due to the location of this parcel in a critical area, the conveyance of this parcel requires considerable review and due diligence,” Levine Cava wrote in a Monday letter to Kevin Guthrie, the state’s emergency management director under DeSantis.
It “is also 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.”
While Levine Cava raised objections in her letter, the DeSantis administration appears to have already taken control of the remote Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport property. After citing existing emergency orders on immigration in a weekend letter to Miami-Dade, multiple state police officers were positioned at the entrance of the county-owned airport Monday as trailers with portable bathrooms and generators rolled into the closed-off site. In a statement on social media Monday afternoon, Uthmeier spokesman Jeremy Redfern stated: Florida “is building” the project he called “Alligator Alcatraz.” In an interview earlier in the day, Uthmeier said he expected the facility to be open as soon as the first week of July. .....................
Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article309222550.html
I had posted another article about this site and the building of a new immigration site in Florida but his article talks more of the need for an environmental assessment.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143484753
= new reply since forum marked as read
