- ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility illustrates mass deportation pledge
- Rising migrant detention numbers pose U.S. fiscal problem
- Trump pressures lawmakers for funding bill before July 4
WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will attend the opening on Tuesday of a remote migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” as he pressures lawmakers to deliver a sweeping spending bill aimed at ramping up deportations.
The facility sits some 37 miles (60 km) from Miami in a vast subtropical wetland teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons, fearsome symbolism the White House has leveraged to show its determination to purge migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the country under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight; it is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt at a news briefing on Monday. “This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.”
Trump himself issued a warning about the wildlife around the facility before leaving the White House on Tuesday.
“You know snakes are fast, but alligators … we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, OK? If they escape prison, how to run away. Don’t run in a straight line,” Trump told reporters. “Your chances go up about 1% – not a good thing.”