Donald Trump is aiming to turn a new immigration detention centre into a symbol of his border crackdown when he visits the site in a remote area of the Florida Everglades.
The facility, assembled on a remote airstrip with tents and trailers that are normally used after a natural disaster, has been given the nickname Alligator Alcatraz, a moniker that has alarmed immigrant activists but appeals to the Republican president’s aggressive approach to deportations.
“This is not a nice business,” he said as he left the White House in the morning. Then he joked that “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, as he moved his hand in a zigzag motion. “And you know what? Your chances go up about 1%.”
Before his arrival, local authorities were positioned by the entrance of the airstrip. Media vans and other vehicles were parked along the road lined by cypress trees.
Protesters have often gathered near the facility, which is about 50 miles west of Miami and could house 5,000 detainees.
They have criticised the potential impact on a delicate ecosystem and say Mr Trump is trying to send a cruel message to immigrants — while some Native American leaders have also opposed construction, saying the land is sacred.
But a key selling point for the Trump administration is the site’s remoteness — and the fact that it is in swampland filled with mosquitoes, pythons and alligators.
The White House hopes that conveys a message to detainees and the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if US immigration laws are not followed.
“There’s only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. “It is isolated, and it is surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain.”
During his first term in 2019, Mr Trump denied reports that he floated the idea of building a moat filled with alligators at the Mexican border. “I may be tough on border security, but not that tough,” he said at the time.
In his second term, he has suggested that his administration could move to reopen Alcatraz, the notorious island prison off San Francisco.
The White House has similarly promoted the political shock value of sending some immigrants awaiting deportation from the US to a detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and others to a megaprison in El Salvador.
Some of the ideas have been impractical. For example, transforming Alcatraz from a tourist attraction into a prison would be very costly, and Guantanamo Bay is being used less often than administration officials originally envisioned.
However, the new detention centre in the Everglades came together very quickly. David Jolly, a former Republican who is now running for governor as a Democrat, called the facility a “callous political stunt”.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detainees are generally held for reasons like entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa. They are either waiting for Ice to put them on the next flight or bus ride home, or fighting against removal in immigration court.
If an immigrant is accused of or has committed a violent crime, he or she is tried and held in state or federal criminal jurisdiction, separate from the immigration system. In those cases, they may be transferred to Ice for deportation after completing their criminal sentences.
State officials are spearheading construction of the Florida facility, but much of the cost is being covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Florida attorney general James Uthmeier, who has been credited as the architect of the Everglades plan, first presented the proposal with a slickly produced video with graphics featuring red-eyed alligators and a hard rock soundtrack.
The Department of Homeland Security posted an image of alligators wearing Ice hats and sitting in front of a fenced-in compound ringed with barbed wire.
The Florida Republican Party has used the facility to sell branded T-shirts and beverage container sleeves. Florida governor Ron DeSantis suggested on Monday that the facility would be open and “ready for business” by the time Mr Trump arrives.
The governor, who challenged Mr Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has also played up the fact that the site will be hard to escape from.
“They ain’t going anywhere once they’re there, unless you want them to go somewhere, because good luck getting to civilisation,” he said. “So the security is amazing.”
