The Trump administration has approved funding for Florida to build migrant detention centers to house 5,000 detainees. Among the projects approved is "Alligator Alcatraz," a proposed facility located on a 30-square-mile abandoned airfield in the Everglades. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Monday that the facility will start receiving detainees by the first week of July.
But not everyone is on board. Democratic Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has opposed Uthmeier's plans to build Alligator Alcatraz on the Miami-Dade–owned portion of the property. "Due to the location of this parcel in a critical area, the conveyance of this parcel requires considerable review and due diligence," Levine Cava said in a letter to Florida's emergency management director, reports the Miami Herald. The mayor's letter outlined concerns about the project, requesting a detailed analysis of potential environmental impacts on the Everglades ecosystem and an updated appraisal of the land. State officials offered to purchase the site for $20 million from Miami-Dade County and Collier County, but county appraisals from May valued the land at $195 million. The appraisal also "lays out development challenges for the property, which it describes as almost entirely wetlands," according to the Herald.
While negotiations continue, companies and state officers have already entered the property and begun construction. Under emergency powers extended by Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over illegal immigration since 2023, the governor can commandeer the country-run airfield, as conceded by Levine Cava.
