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The Trump administration on Tuesday afternoon announced that it approved construction of an off-the-grid facility to house ICE detainees in the heart of Florida’s “alligator alley.”
Florida state officials began building the site on Monday, which will be completed in less than two months.
A 30-square-mile property in the Everglades called the Miami-Dade/Collier Training Facility, home to a “virtually abandoned airport,” will soon be the site of a 5,000-bed facility to hold criminal illegal immigrants, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
“The governor tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities. I think this is the best one: as I call it, ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’” Uthmeier said in a promotional video on X.
TRUMP IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT HAMPERED BY DETENTION CAPACITY, FLORIDA SHERIFF WARNS
Uthmeier’s office said the goal is to have the facility operational the first week of July. The Florida National Guard will play a key role at the site, which is a temporary repurposing of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport which is land owned by Miami-Dade County.
Uthmeier said the location presents “an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility” because it does not require heavy investment in perimeter confinement measures.
“[If] people get out, there’s not that much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons,” he said. “Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.”
Uthmeier said the project can be rapidly completed in just 30 to 60 days of beginning construction, which was slated to begin Monday, according to the New York Times.
That report says the facility will cost the state about $450 million per year to operate, but that it can be reimbursed at least in part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
DOZENS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED AT FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION SITES
“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,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
The move was announced as the Trump administration continues to ramp up deportations, and looks for places for detainees to stay during that process.
One option is the notorious Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, where the administration seeks to fill 30,000 beds with illegal immigrants.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller confirmed last month that the Trump administration’s goal is to arrest 3,000 illegal immigrants daily, a statement which was reaffirmed by border czar Tom Homan.
“We’ve gotta increase these arrests and removals,” Homan said on “America’s Newsroom.” “The numbers are good, but I’m not satisfied. I haven’t been satisfied all year long.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Uthmeier’s office.
Fox News’ Danamarie McNicholl and Cam Arcand contributed to this report.
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