OCHOPEE, Fla. (AP) 鈥� The first group of immigrants were scheduled to arrive Wednesday night at deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed 鈥淎lligator Alcatraz,鈥� the state's attorney general said.
鈥淎lligator Alcatraz will be checking in hundreds of criminal illegal aliens tonight," Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier said on the X social media platform. "Next stop: back to where they came from.鈥�
It wasn't immediately clear precisely when the detainees would arrive or where they were coming from. They were being brought to the facility on buses, officials said.
at an airport used for training, will have a capacity of about 3,000 detainees when fully operational, according to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days over 10 miles (16 kilometers) of Everglades. It features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel.
Environmental groups and Native American tribes have contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred.
It's also located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening. State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph (154-177 kph), and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred.
DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent, and naming it after the of Alcatraz, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It鈥檚 another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.
State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and 鈥済uarded鈥� by alligators wearing hats labeled 鈥淚CE鈥� for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility鈥檚 name.
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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.
Curt Anderson And Marta Lavandier, The Associated Press
