Posted on 06/25/2025 5:49:33 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
A convoy of trucks carrying tents, construction materials and portable toilets flows into a virtually abandoned airport in Florida's picturesque Everglades, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But they're not helping build the region's next big tourist attraction.
Instead they're laying the foundations for a new migrant detention facility, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz".
The facility, in the middle of a Miami swamp, was proposed by state lawmakers to support US President Donald Trump's deportation agenda.
"You don't need to invest that much in the perimeter. If people get out, there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons," explains the state's attorney general, James Uthmeier, a Republican, in a video set to rock music and posted on social media.
The new detention centre is being built on the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, about 43 miles (70km) from central Miami, in the middle of the Everglades, an ecologically important subtropical wetland.
The airfield where the detention centre will be based is mainly a pilot training runway surrounded by vast swamps.
In the stifling summer heat rife with mosquitoes, we managed to advance only a few metres into the compound when, as expected, a guard in a lorry blocked our way.
We hear sounds coming from a small canal next to the compound. We wonder whether it's fish, snakes, or the hundreds of alligators that roam the wetland.

Although the airstrip belongs to Miami-Dade County, the decision to turn it into a detention centre was made following a 2023 executive order by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, invoking emergency powers to stem the flow of undocumented migrants.
The new centre, which according to authorities will have the capacity to accommodate around 1,000 detainees and will...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
There is a Texas state prison near Livingston. It is surrounded by swampland. About 20 years ago an inmate escaped in the middle of winter. A couple of days later his half eaten body was found in a low hanging tree. A gator got him.
The warden circulated pictures to the other inmates for good measure.
The inmates could be fitted with those exploding necklaces one sees occasionally in the movies. If an inmate gets out of range of the camp - boom!
Prolly not a good idea after all ... if there is a power outage and the necklaces cannot ‘hear’ the central computer, boom all over the place. Clean-up in cell blocks 1 thru 99 ...
>> if there is a power outage and the necklaces cannot ‘hear’ the central computer, boom all over the place. Clean-up in cell block<<
This is a great idea. If someone tries to do a jailbreak by cutting power...well, gooey, kaplooey.
Thank God for the map..I had no idea where Florida was.
Waiting for a federal judge to stop construction. Cruel and unusual punishment...
And they can blare Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie” 24/7....
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