Trump celebrates harsh conditions for future detainees at 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Trump celebrates harsh conditions for future detainees at 'Alligator Alcatraz'
United States President Donald Trump visited a controversial migrant detention center in Florida's Everglades on Tuesday.
Dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," the facility is located 80km west of Miami on a mosquito-infested former airstrip.
The camp, which has been set up by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, is meant to house undocumented immigrants under Trump's mass deportation agenda.
Don't run in a straight line, Trump jokes
"This is not a nice business," Trump said while leaving the White House, before joking, "We're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison."
"Don't run in a straight line. Run like this," he said, moving his hand in a zigzag motion.
"And you know what? Your chances go up about 1%," he said.
Trump dismisses concerns about the camp's harsh conditions
Trump, who was accompanied by DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, dismissed concerns about the camp's harsh conditions.
The facility is expected to hold up to 5,000 detainees, with an initial intake of about 1,000, and will be patrolled by the Florida National Guard.
Despite protests from environmentalists and immigrant advocates, Trump praised DeSantis's administration for setting up the camp in just over a week.
Lawsuit filed to stop the project
The facility's location has been criticized for its environmental impact on fragile wetlands.
Two Native American tribes—the Miccosukee and Seminole—have also opposed the use of ancestral lands for this purpose.
Last week, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal court in Miami to stop the project, arguing that an environmental study was not conducted as required.
Rising deaths in ICE custody
Immigrant advocates have slammed the use of such a facility for people who are undocumented.
They highlight that arrests of those without criminal records have surged under Trump's administration.
The camp opens amid rising deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, including a recent case of a 75-year-old Cuban man who died in Miami on June 26.
DeSantis calls camp a necessary solution; Frost slams it
DeSantis defended the camp as a necessary but temporary solution for migrants.
He assured that detainees would be well taken care of in soft-sided tents with bunk beds and portable air conditioning units.
The project has also drawn the ire of politicians, with Florida congressman Maxwell Frost slamming the facility as "a cruel spectacle" and "physical and psychological torture."