Camp Crocodile? Nope, it’s Alligator Alcatraz

July 7th, 2025
Brogan Jones

Donald Trump has a long and tumultuous history with immigration policies, from his 2016 border wall initiative to recent mass deportations via violent ICE raids nationwide. The latter was even met with nationwide demonstrations protesting the robust and aggressive immigration crackdown being conducted by the Trump Administration. Yet, the president’s most polarizing and unorthodox action to deter illegal immigrants might be his most recent: building a Florida prison for migrants, which officials call "Alligator Alcatraz."

Alligator Alcatraz—a state-run detention facility for migrants located in the Florida Everglades—opened on the first of the month, having been assembled in just eight days. The facility will have an initial capacity of around 3,000 (per Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) and is intended to house illegal immigrants detained by Florida law enforcement. Indeed, only two days after it opened, the very first immigrants arrived at the facility. Unsurprisingly, the detention center has become instantly politicized. Aside from President Trump, Governor DeSantis and DHS Secretary Noem visiting the facility on the first day that it opened, Republicans have also taken to online platforms to voice their support, touting Alligator Alcatraz as a win for the Trump Administration on illegal immigration. One notable example was Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who took to X to write, "Next stop: back to where they came from." A more jarring example was when Laura Loomer—a far-right political activist and frequent confidant of the president—referencing the facility’s construction, took to X to write, "Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now." The post immediately generated online discourse, as users began to point out that the “65 million meals” was likely referring to the roughly 65 million legal Latinx American citizens. It should come as no shock that just as much as Republicans have been claiming this as a victory, opponents on the other side of the aisle seem to see things very differently.

There has been instant backlash to the opening of the new facility for a plethora of different reasons. One of the primary points of discourse surrounding the detention center has been its humanitarian conditions. The Everglades, where the facility is located, is famously home to alligators and pythons. This fact not only inspired the detention center's nickname but was also used as a selling point by Trump administration officials. However, hurricanes, flooding and mosquitoes pose an even greater threat to detainees. The general living conditions of the facility aren’t great either, consisting of large tents, bunk beds and chain link fences that form cages. Some defend the facility as essential for solving illegal immigration in the US. Others, however, see it as a massive problem itself, with some even calling it a “concentration camp” because it fits historical patterns of mass detention in the US.

Another concern with the facility has been transparency and political accountability. On July 3, the same day that the very first immigrants arrived at Alligator Alcatraz, a group of Florida lawmakers was denied entry into the facility. Said lawmakers had gone to the detention center with the intent to investigate the conditions of the facility and the prisoners detained there. Even worse, the location itself is said to be highly inaccessible to lawyers, family members, reporters and general oversight. This is due to both high security and the daunting, surrounding environment.

Overall, while some believe Trump’s response to illegal immigration is tackling the problem head-on, others see it as aggressive, inhumane and irresponsible. Alligator Alcatraz represents the most recent, polarizing example of this divide.

Extemp Analysis by: Brogan Jones

AGD: As with all immigration questions, I would typically avoid a funny AGD and would go with a more serious approach, perhaps describing the awful conditions of detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz or telling a personal story about a specific individual who was deported and/or detained.

Background: I would give similar background information to that which was given at the beginning of this article, talking about Trump’s past immigration policies and the context in which we find ourselves in our current political climate surrounding immigration.

Question: How are Trump’s immigration policies contributing to political polarization?

Answer: If I got this question, my answer would be that Trump’s immigration policies are contributing to political polarization by:

Dividing opinions
Pushing legal boundaries
Lowering the standard of behavior.

For the first point, I would obviously talk about a lot that is brought up in this article, including both praises of Alligator Alcatraz as well as criticisms of its humanitarian conditions. I chose a question that was about immigration more broadly, but here I’m just assuming Alligator Alcatraz is used as a sort of “case study,” an example that’s meant to represent Trump’s immigration policies as a whole. For the second point, I would continue with the focus on humanitarian conditions, while also bringing up transparency and accountability issues, mentioning how lawmakers were refused entry when they went to inspect the detention center’s humanitarian situation. I would link this to a broader trend of pushing legal boundaries and usurping traditional legal and political frameworks. For the third and final point, I would just talk about how each action taken by the Trump administration on immigration has been more and more radical, further lowering this standard of behavior and creating this race-to-the-bottom sort of effect, which only further polarizes the population as well as the opinions of politicians in office.