President Trump toured Florida’s new immigration jail dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” on Tuesday, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Alligator Alcatraz is a hastily built camp on an isolated airfield in the Everglades with massive tents that will hold immigrants in cages with multiple bunk beds. Trump mocked detained immigrants, saying they would have to learn how to fight alligators in order to escape. The jail is surrounded by alligators, pythons and other Everglades wildlife. Hundreds of protesters rallied outside in response. This is a Miccosukee leader.
Kailani: “We just — we love our land. We love our water. We love our habitat. We love the trees. We love — we love the immigrants. We think it’s very wrong, what they’re doing.”
Trump’s visit came ahead of plans to transfer the first group of immigrants to the camp this week. The ICE jail is expected to hold up to 5,000 people awaiting deportation, costing an estimated $450 million a year to operate. We’ll go to Florida for more after headlines.