José Javier Rodríguez, a Democrat running for Florida Attorney General, says the state project to build an immigrant detention center in the Everglades is “a reckless, rushed project that puts lives and resources at risk.”
“Detaining immigrants at a remote airfield in the Everglades, with no clear legal framework or due process, is about fear, not safety,” Rodríguez said Wednesday in a statement. “The most obvious reason seems to be political theater, just trying to get attention in Washington, rather than looking out for the interests of our state and its people.”
Florida officials are racing ahead with the construction of what Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” to help carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. The project, already under construction, will include 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 west of downtown Miami has alarming environmentalists and Miami-Dade officials, as well as human rights advocates who have slammed the plan as cruel and inhumane.
State officials say the installation is critical to support the federal government's immigration crackdown, which has resulted in a record-high number of detentions, totaling more than 56,000 immigrants in June, the most since 2019.
READ MORE: Mayor Levine Cava: 'Significant concerns' about scope, scale of state's 'Alligator Alcatraz' project
The facility is part of the state’s plan to operationalize 5,000 immigration detention beds by early July, according to Urthmeier, a key architect of the state's aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. In 2022, he helped coordinate the state-funded flights of about 50 Venezuelans to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have applauded the effort and the agency's “partnership with Florida.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the new facility will be funded in large part by the Shelter and Services Program within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Rodríguez blasted DHS for financing the immigrant detention center with FEMA funds.
“Now they’re funding it with FEMA dollars — money meant to help us prepare for hurricanes and natural disasters, especially in a state like Florida,” Rodríguez said. “Let’s be clear: this isn’t just irresponsible — it’s a rushed plan cloaked in secrecy by using emergency powers.”
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to build a second detention center to house immigrants at a Florida National Guard training center known as Camp Blanding near Jacksonville in northeast Florida.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
