Over the objections of a far-left county mayor, Florida is moving forward with plans to turn a rarely used airstrip near the Everglades into a 1,000-bed detention facility to be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for holding illegal aliens.
Dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the facility is regarded by state Attorney General James Uthmeier, R-Fla., as the “one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.” He added that “people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Use of the airstrip near Big Cypress National Preserve has drawn the ire of Democrat Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and environmentalists who claim it would harm the wetlands in the area that have been under restoration for years. But the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis says that the airstrip already exists and its use would not require “the removal of vegetation, additional paving, or permanent construction.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already approved a plan for using the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport submitted by the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). Secretary Kristi Noem stated, “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. … We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”
By many metrics, Florida leads the nation in helping the federal government with its immigration enforcement, having more deputized state law enforcement than any other state and appointed more than 100 Florida Highway Patrol Troopers to serve as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals, allowing them to “execute federal warrants and remove dangerous criminals from our communities.”
“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 Tuesday statement. “At the governor’s direction, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has drafted and submitted to U.S. DHS a plan (the State immigration Enforcement Operations Plan) for Florida to further assist in the detention, processing, and deportation of illegal immigrants.”
Miami-Dade County owns the airstrip, and while Mayor Levine Cava (not to be confused with Francis Suarez, the Republican mayor of the City of Miami) and others did not explicitly reject the idea of its use, they did attempt to throw up roadblocks like implying it could not be sold for less than $190 million, rejecting the $20 million the state offered.
The DeSantis administration also “appears to have already taken control” of the airstrip, basing the move on emergency powers invoked by a declaration on the illegal immigration crisis in the United States, according to the Miami Herald.
“The County has significant concerns about the environmental impacts on the Everglades which is the source of our clean drinking water and the cornerstone of our regional economy, and we requested a detailed analysis and report on environmental impacts of this facility to the Everglades ecosystem,” Rachel Johnson, Levine Cava’s deputy chief of staff, said. “We further requested the opportunity for an updated appraisal and a deeper financial analysis to make sure we maximize the value of this public asset on behalf of Miami-Dade taxpayers.”
In a Monday letter, Levine Cava told Kevin Guthrie, executive director of FDEM, that “the impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating.”
According to The Washington Post, “the state and federal government have spent 35 years and more than $10 billion to restore the natural flow of water to the Everglades,” which provides water for over eight million people, as well as being home to flamingos, crocodiles, manatees, and other wildlife. While additional concerns have also been raised about sewage, waste, and water supply, DeSantis’ office maintains that FDEM will use temporary buildings and shelters that are “consistent with similar applications during natural disasters,” and “water, sewage, and power will be facilitated by mobile equipment that will be removed at the completion of the mission.”
The office also said that “operations on site will be completely self-contained.”
A waste-management plan overview from FDEM states that “the goal of the Division and contracted vendors is to ensure a robust, proactive logistics and installation plan that fully eliminates the potential for environmental issues related to waste production, solid waste management, recycling, construction and demolition debris, and potable water management for all on-site restroom, shower, and laundry trailers by integrating high-capacity containment, secure plumbing, secondary spill containment, solid waste management, recycling, construction and demolition debris handling, and robust monitoring, this plan addresses and eliminates environmental risks, ensuring compliance and safe conditions for site occupants.”
It also goes over the implementation of onsite monitors to maintain the facility in accordance with “federal, state, and local environmental regulations.”
“A trained team will inspect all plumbing and containment systems daily to maintain zero environmental impact,” the plan states. Potable water will be driven to the site; solid waste will be dealt with using covered dumpsters, so as to prevent littering, wind disbursement, and animal activity, and will be removed from the site daily.
“Time is of the essence,” Guthrie told Levine Cava on Monday. “We must act swiftly to ensure readiness and continuity in our statewide operations to assist the federal government with immigration enforcement.”