Trump Wants to Deputize National Guard as Immigration Judges -- And Build More 'Alligator Alcatraz' Facilities in Florida
Source: MEDIAite
Jul 1st, 2025, 3:48 pm
During a trip to the migrant detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, President Donald Trump declared Gov. Ron DeSantis had his approval to deputize National Guard members as immigration judges to speed up deportations — and also voiced his support for building another similar facility in Jacksonville, with a similarly rushed construction timeline.
On Tuesday, Trump visited the hastily-built tent facility that DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier have said will hold thousands of migrants.
Critics have denounced the construction impacts and massive planned occupancy on environmentally sensitive land that has been protected for decades (the one runway on the property was part of a larger airport plan that was scrapped in 1970 after strong backlash that led directly to the initiation of the Big Cypress National Preserve). Local Native Americans, including members of the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes who have lived in the area for centuries, have strenuously objected to the plan and organized protests to protect land they view as sacred.
Constitutional rights and immigration reform advocates have voiced skepticism the plan is legal and called it cruel, as Trump, DeSantis, Uthmeier, and other federal and Florida officials have touted the intention for any migrants who attempt to escape to be attacked and eaten by alligators and other local wildlife. (This is an inaccurate representation of the diets of the alligators, pythons, crocodiles, panthers, and other wildlife in the Everglades and how they interact with humans; except in rare circumstances they do not post a threat to adults.)
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump/trump-wants-to-deputize-national-guard-as-immigration-judges-and-build-more-alligator-alcatraz-facilities-in-florida/
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