"Alligator Alcatraz": A Case Study in State-Run Detention and the Erosion of Human Rights

Author: Danielle Castano, MA

October 7, 2025

[Image credit: Mickenzie Hannon/Naples Daily News/USA Today-Network-Florida]

Introduction

In July 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the opening of a new immigration detention center located in the Florida Everglades. The Governor used emergency powers in response to the border crisis to seize the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, where Alligator Alcatraz was later repurposed in 2025 (Ceballos, 2025). Its name was first dubbed by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier as a reference to how difficult it once was to escape from Alcatraz, a prison located on an island off the coast of San Francisco that is no longer active and has since been converted into a museum. Alligator Alcatraz is located in an isolated wetland area, which is home to wild animals such as alligators, pythons, and panthers. Alongside this detention center, the state of Florida has also considered opening two additional detention centers, one in Camp Blanding (a U.S. Army training facility) and another in Pensacola (James, 2025). Since the announcement of its creation, there has been widespread pushback against the existence of Alligator Alcatraz (over concerns related to human rights and environmental damage) from the following groups: environmental organizations, Indigenous tribes, human rights advocates, and immigrant activists.

Background

During his second presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to conduct the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. Trump’s clear desire to deport large numbers of individuals has manifested itself into the detainment of thousands of undocumented immigrants without the filing of any criminal charges or convictions; Trump’s deportation spree has also resulted in the increased presence of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the nation. As of April 2025, ICE detention centers had nationwide capacity to detain up to 62,913 people. However, facilities have been filled beyond capacity in the past and Alligator Alcatraz was built to alleviate capacity issues. The Trump Administration has commented that it would need at least 100,000 beds to support its mass deportation effort (Reuters, 2025). Alligator Alcatraz currently is able to house up to 3,000 people with the ability to add more beds. Florida is also helping President Trump’s deportation agenda through the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement agencies to partner with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and become deputized to carry out immigration enforcement operations (Olivares, 2025). Florida has more 287(g) deputizations than any other state in the U.S symbolizing its intent on tackling undocumented migration in the state.

There are also concerns that the facility is being funded by Florida taxpayers. The construction of Alligator Alcatraz is estimated to cost $450 million and was paid for with funds from Florida’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program. The funds are to be reimbursed to the state from the federal government (James, 2025). The Shelter and Services Program, created in 2022, assists local and state governments in providing food, shelter, medical attention, and transportation to immigrants in detention centers. The state has offered $20 million for the land where Alligator Alcatraz is built. This land is owned by Miami-Dade County. The most recent appraisal is listed at $190 million (Treisman, 2025). It is unclear if FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program would also cover this expense. A new poll from the Florida Communications and Research Hub (2025) finds that most Floridians are aware of Alligator Alcatraz and view the facility unfavorably, and a majority oppose the state’s use of taxpayer dollars from the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund to finance it. 

Human Rights Concerns

Alligator Alcatraz opened on July 3rd, 2025 and the facility has held detainees without formal charges, barred from legal access, and exposed to degrading living conditions (Heffernan and Schwartzapfel, 2025). The detention center is located about 45 miles from Miami, Florida. Images of the interior of Alligator Alcatraz shocked the public, showing rooms furnished with beds surrounded by chain fences resembling cages. Furthermore, the facility is a tent-based structure, leaving it vulnerable to conditions including flooding and insect infestations (Martinez, 2025a). The area the prison is located in is also prone to hurricanes and unpredictable weather, creating dangerous conditions for detainees. A group of Democrat lawmakers attempted to enter Alligator Alcatraz after its opening but were denied entrance to the center due to flooding and other issues (Ebrahimji et al., 2025). The group of lawmakers argued that the denial of entry inside the facility marked a blatant abuse of power and an attempt to conceal human rights violations from the public eye (Ebrahimji et al., 2025). This assertion by the lawmakers raised many concerns as to what conditions detainees might be facing in the detention center.

Detainees reported that Alligator Alcatraz lacks food, and that detainees are only given one meal a day with little time to eat. The detainees are not permitted daily showers, and the facility lacks reliable medical care for those with chronic illnesses (Acevedo, 2025). Furthermore, detainees are forced to stay inside the tent-based infrastructure with fluorescent lights on around the clock (Acevedo, 2025). The American Civil Liberties Union (known as ACLU, is a nonprofit civil rights organization), ACLU of Florida (the state affiliate of the national ACLU), Community Justice Project (a Miami-based community lawyering racial justice and human rights organization), and National Immigrant Justice Center (a human rights organization providing legal services) filed a lawsuit in August 2025 challenging Florida’s authority to detain people at Alligator Alcatraz. The lawsuit mainly focuses on the state's unlawful use of 287(g) agreements, which assert independent state control over immigration detainees resulting in unprecedented challenges such as being held without charge, not receiving initial custody or bond determinations, not appearing in the detainee locator system, and not being able to access their attorneys or immigration court (National Immigrant Justice Center, 2025). The lawsuit also alleges that the 287(g) program does not authorize state agencies, and their contractors to run detention centers and lack federally required training to participate in immigration enforcement efforts (National Immigrant Justice Center, 2025). The case is too recent to have reached a verdict.

The Department of Homeland Security (2025) has claimed that the reports of inhumane living conditions, lack of medical care, and the barring of legal access are false. The vast majority of immigration detention centers are run by federal agencies such as ICE and very few are primarily state-run such as Alligator Alcatraz. Once a person is sent to Alligator Alcatraz, they no longer appear in ICE’s online system tracking their location, making it nearly impossible for family and attorneys to find them, illustrating the issues that arise when the boundary between state and federal authorities is blurred (Heffernan and Schwartzapfel, 2025). These conditions will only continue to worsen as the population of the detention center continues to grow due to already insufficient food and medical care.

Environmental Concerns

The construction of Alligator Alcatraz threatens the fragile wetland ecosystem and hundreds of species. For example, the runoff and wastewater discharge from the detention center could harm the Everglades, and the prison’s construction has already reduced the habitat size for protected species such as the Florida Panther (Brugal and Weiner, 2025). As a result, the detention center has garnered pushback from environmental activists and from the Miccosukee Tribe. The Miccosukee have ancestral ties to the Florida Everglades, and the site is adjacent to their reservation. The detention center was built in almost complete secrecy, and the Miccosukee were not informed of the existence of Alligator Alcatraz until it was announced in nationwide news (Martinez, 2025). The construction of the detention center has resulted in the loss of access to trails used by the Miccosukee tribe for hunting and harvesting ceremonial and medicinal plants. 

As a result of the rapid construction of Alligator Alcatraz, a lawsuit was filed on June 27th, 2025 by a coalition consisting of representatives from the Friends of the Everglades (a conservationist and activist organization), the Center for Biological Diversity (a nonprofit environmental advocacy group), Earthjustice, (an environmental law organization) and the Miccosukee Tribe (a federally-recognized Native American nation in Florida). The lawsuit claims that the detention center was built without public input or an environmental statement, which violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (Allen, 2025). The construction of Alligator Alcatraz was ordered to stop under Federal Judge Kathleen Williams’ ruling while the case is tried. The ruling prohibited new detainees from arriving at Alligator Alcatraz and required the dismantling of certain elements of the site within 60 days (Brugal and Weiner, 2025). In September 2025, the ruling to close Alligator Alcatraz was blocked in the 11th Circuit Court pending the outcome of an appeal (Ritchie, 2025).

Out of the two lawsuits against the detention center, the environmental case may be the strongest argument to halt operations at Alligator Alcatraz completely since it violates the National Environmental Policy Act (Martinez, 2025a). Some experts worry that this detention center will create an independent and unaccountable detention system allowing for the mistreatment of detainees, especially when considering that 40% of all deaths in ICE custody have occurred in Florida in 2025 (Krakoff, 2025). The lawsuits are a part of a broader challenge to the Trump’s Administration efforts to outsource immigration detention centers to individual states.

Conclusion

The United States has a long history of using cruel immigration detention and policies  with the Japanese internment camps during World War II and more recently with the zero tolerance policy leading to thousands of children being separated from their parents at the border serving as examples. Alligator Alcatraz has already inspired similar facilities to open in Indiana, Nebraska, and Louisiana, marking the first time that states have gotten this involved in large-scale immigration detention (Heffernan and Schwartzapfel, 2025). With the existing reports of degrading standard of living, lack of medical care, and the barring of legal access raises concerns of the conditions that detainees will face in similar facilities in other states. The opening of more state run facilities signals the support for tougher immigration policies and an increase in funding for deportations in the United States. The future of Alligator Alcatraz remains uncertain as lawsuits continue to be filed and tried.

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Glossary

• Alleges- To assert without proof or before proving

• Alleviate- To make (something, such as pain or suffering) more bearable

• Appraisal- A valuation of property by the estimate of an authorized person. 

• Bond- Refers to an obligation to pay a specified amount of money.

• Civil Rights- Guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics.

• Coalition- The joining together of different political parties or groups for a particular purpose, usually for a limited time, or a government that is formed in this way

• Degrading- Causing or associated with a low, destitute, or demoralized state. 

• Detention center- A place where people who have entered a country illegally are kept for a period of time.

• Dubbed- To call by a distinctive title or nickname.

• Emergency powers- Refer to the authority granted to executive officials to act beyond normal legal constraints in response to urgent threats that cannot be addressed through ordinary legislative or administrative procedures. 

• Lawsuit- A problem taken to a law court by an ordinary person or an organization rather than the police in order to obtain a legal decision.

• Manifested- To make evident or certain by showing or displaying. 

• Reimburse- To pay someone back.

• Seize- To possess or take by force.

• Unprecedented- Never having happened or existed in the past. 

• Verdict- The finding or decision of a jury on the matter submitted to it in trial.

• Violate- To break or act against something, especially a law, agreement, principle, or something that should be treated with respect.

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Sources

1. Acevedo, N. (2025). Detainees held at Alligator Alcatraz describe cage-like units swarmed by Mosquitoes. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alligator-alcatraz-florida-detainees-conditions-fungus-mosquitoes-rcna220205 

2. Allen, G. (2025). Federal judge halts construction at Florida’s “alligator alcatraz.” Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2025/08/07/nx-s1-5495636/judge-halts-construction-alligator-alcatraz-florida 

3. Brugal, S., & Weiner, J. (2025). Judge Halts Alligator Alcatraz expansion over environmental risks - axios Miami. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2025/08/22/trump-alligator-alcatraz-detention-florida-judge 

4. Ceballos, J. (2025). DeSantis fast-tracks building immigrant detention center in Everglades. Retrieved from https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2025-06-24/alligator-alcatraz-desantis-everglades-detention-center 

5. Ebrahimji, A., Rosales, I., Sayers, D. M., & Faheid, D. (2025). Lawmakers who tried to visit “alligator alcatraz” amid humanitarian concerns were denied entry. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/03/us/alligator-alcatraz-florida-lawmakers-visit 

6. Florida Watch. (2025). New poll: Floridians unfavorable to “alligator alcatraz,” concerned about taxpayer cost. Retrieved from https://floridawatch.org/new-poll-floridians-unfavorable-to-alligator-alcatraz-concerned-about-taxpayer-cost/ 

7. Heffernan, S., & Schwartzapfel, B. (2025). What Alligator Alcatraz portends for State Prisons. Retrieved from https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/22/florida-ice-indiana-louisiana-prison-immigration-detention 

8. James, H. (2025). Governor DeSantis hints at third ICE facility in Florida Panhandle amidst budget cuts. Retrieved from https://weartv.com/news/local/governor-desantis-hints-at-third-ice-facility-in-florida-panhandle-amidst-budget-cuts 

9. Krakoff, J. (2025). Merkley, Wasserman Schultz lead 65 lawmakers to press Trump admin on plans for dangerous, cruel “alligator alcatraz” facility. Retrieved from https://www.merkley.senate.gov/merkley-wasserman-schultz-lead-65-lawmakers-to-press-trump-admin-on-plans-for-dangerous-cruel-alligator-alcatraz-facility/ 

10. Martinez, A. (2025). Miccosukee Tribe Challenges “alligator alcatraz.” Retrieved from https://prismreports.org/2025/08/05/alligator-alcatraz-miccosukee-tribe/#:~:text=The%20Miccosukee%20Tribe%20of%20Indians,environmental%20assessments%20or%20public%20input. 

11. Martinez, A. (2025a). Medical emergency at “alligator alcatraz” highlights neglect, advocates say. Retrieved from https://prismreports.org/2025/08/18/alligator-alcatraz-medical-neglect/ 

12. National Immigrant Justice Center. (2025). New lawsuit challenges Florida’s authority to detain people at notorious Florida Everglades Detention Center. Retrieved from https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/new-lawsuit-challenges-floridas-authority-to-detain-people-at-notorious-florida-everglades-detention-center/#:~:text=FORT%20MYERS%2C%20Fla.,detained%20at%20the%20Everglades%20facility. 

13. Olivares, J. (2025). Democratic lawmakers denied entry to “alligator alcatraz” immigration jail. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/04/florida-democrats-alligator-alcatraz 

14. Reuters. (2025). US immigration detention maxed out at 47,600 detainees, ICE official says. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-immigration-detention-maxed-out-47600-detainees-ice-official-says-2025-03-12/ 

15. Ritchie, B. (2025). Federal Appeals Court blocks judge’s order shutting Down Alligator Alcatraz - Politico. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/04/federal-appeals-court-alligator-alcatraz-00545277 

16. Treisman, R. (2025). Florida is moving ahead with 'Alligator Alcatraz,' despite widespread pushback. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2025/06/24/nx-s1-5443268/alligator-alcatraz-florida-everglades-migrant-detention-center