An American native leader from Florida spoke against a new migrant detention center in the Everglades of Florida, nicknamed “Aligator Alcatraz”, raising environmental and security concerns for local tribal communities.
President Trump, visiting the site on Tuesday, said the installation will celebrate “some of the most threatening migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
The detention center, built on a remote landing floor in the Everglades, can contain up to 5,000 migrants in tents and trailers.
A drone view shows the construction site of the next Ice Detention Center “Aligator Aligator” of the State at the Training and Transition Airport of Dade-Collier in Ochopee, Florida, on June 28, 2025.
AP
Talbert Cypress, president of Miccosukee Business Council, said some tribal villages are at 900 feet of the installation entrance.
“This proposed installation is surrounded by all sides by the Big Cypress National Preserve, and the tribe has been at home at the Big Cypress for centuries,” Cypress told ABC News.
CyPress pointed out the lack of environmental studies on what the creation of the detention center could mean for the local ecosystem.
“An environmental impact study has not been carried out. The environmental impact study that was carried out in 1974 suggested that it was suggested that putting any type of aircraft in the area would have a significant impact on the Everglades,” he said.
The protesters have signs while protesting the visit of President Donald Trump to a migrant detention center, called “Aligator Alcatraz”, located at the Site of the Training and Transition Airport of Dade-Collier in Ochopee, Florida, on July 1, 2025.
Giorgio Viera/AFP through Getty Images
The proximity of the installation to the traditional native camps, where the members of Miccosukee and Seminole live and teach US and native education, has raised more concerns.
“We are worried about security … CBP, also in general, all the traffic that will happen there, and the flights enter and leave,” said Cypress.
During the tour with the Secretary of National Security Kristi Noem and the governor of Florida Ron Desantis, Trump highlighted the remote location of the installation.
The beds are seen inside a migrant detention center, called “Aligator Alcatraz”, located at the Training and Transition Airport Site Dade-Collier in Ochopee, Florida, July 1, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP through Getty Images
“It is very appropriate, because I looked outside and it is not a place that I want to go on an excursion in the short term,” Trump said. “We are surrounded by miles of trayoner lands of swamp, and the only exit is really deportation.”
The ABC News correspondent, Victor Oquendo, reported that the administration sees surrounding wildlife, including crocodiles and pythons, as a natural barrier to the detention center, prevents migrants can escape.
The installation could become a model for similar centers planned in Louisiana and Alabama, Trump told ABC News.
The new data studied by ABC News show a change in application priorities, with more migrants arrests without criminal record. DHS replied that 70% of ice arrests were migrants with criminal records.
Cypress ended with a message for Trump and Desantis: “President Trump and Desantis have been very good for the Everglades, and we feel like [this is a] Go back in your effort. “
