What to know about ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP):

An immigration detention facility located at an isolated Everglades airfield surrounded by mosquito-, python- and alligator-filled swamplands is just days away from being operational, federal officials said on Tuesday.

Florida officials are racing ahead with the construction of what they’ve dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to help carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, working to build a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings similar to sites used during natural disasters.

The construction of the facility in the remote and ecologically sensitive wetland about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami is alarming human-rights advocates and environmentalists. State officials say the installation is critical to support the federal government’s immigration enforcement agenda.

Here’s what to know.

5,000 DETENTION BEDS BY EARLY JULY

Construction of the site in the dog days of summer is part of the state’s plan to operationalise 5,000 immigration detention beds by early July, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a former chief of staff for Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and a key architect of the state’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.

In the eyes of Florida officials, the harsh conditions surrounding the far-flung airstrip and its nearly 10,500-foot (3,200-metre) runway make it an ideal location to house and transport migrants.

“We don’t need to build a lot of brick and mortar,” Uthmeier said in an interview with conservative media commentator Benny Johnson. “And thankfully, Mother Nature does a lot on the perimeter.

“There’s really nowhere to go. If you’re housed there, if you’re detained there, there’s no way in, no way out,” Uthmeier added.

DEMOCRATS AND ACTIVISTS ARE ALARMED BY THE PLAN

More than 50 years ago, environmental advocates, including the famed Marjory Stoneman Douglas, rallied to stop the same stretch of land from being turned into what was to be the largest airport in the world.

Now, activists are rallying to halt what some critics have described as a state-backed “heist”.

“Surrounded by Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, this land is part of one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country,” reads a statement from the advocacy group Friends of the Everglades. “Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. This land deserves lasting protection.”

Florida Democratic US Rep Maxwell Frost condemned the detention centre, calling its apparent use of alligators as a security measure a “cruel spectacle”.

“Donald Trump, his administration, and his enablers have made one thing brutally clear: they intend to use the power of government to kidnap, brutalise, starve, and harm every single immigrant they can — because they have a deep disdain for immigrants and are using them to scapegoat the serious issues facing working people,” Frost said in a statement.