COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — President Donald Trump will visit Florida’s newest migrant detention facility on Tuesday, a controversial site located deep in the Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The facility, being built less than half a mile from the home of Mae’anna Osceola-Hart and her family, has sparked protests from Indigenous members and environmental groups.
WATCH AS 'ALLIGATOR ALGATRAZ' NEARS COMPLETION AT ITS CONTROVERSIAL SITE IN THE EVERGLADES:
“Imagine the U.S. government trying to build a detention center in your backyard,” Osceola-Hart said. “Me and my family don’t have to imagine, it’s happening right now."
Osceola-Hart identifies as both Seminole and Miccosukee. The proposed detention facility sits near a home her family has lived on for generations. She said this is not the first time they’ve had to fight a development project in the Everglades.
“Back when the jetport—the biggest airport in the world—was being developed, my great-grandpa was also fighting against that,” she said. “So this is just history repeating itself."
The Everglades Jetport, proposed in the 1960s, was intended to be the largest airport in the world — about five times the size of New York’s JFK. The project was halted in the 1970s due to environmental and logistical concerns, and only one airstrip was ever constructed, which still stands today.
Osceola-Hart says she’s carrying on her grandfather’s work by opposing the facility being used as a detention center.
“He’d be proud of me being here today fighting against this—to protect our land, to protect our home,” she said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ says the new facility will hold up to 5,000 migrants who are in the country illegally and are awaiting deportation. The governor has described the project as temporary and said it will not harm the sensitive environment of the Everglades.
“I think people are just trying to use the Everglades as a pretext just for the fact that they oppose immigration enforcement,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a recent press conference in Tampa.
On Monday, dozens of trucks continued entering the property ahead of Trump’s visit and the facility’s official opening.
Environmental organizations have filed lawsuits seeking to block the facility’s launch, citing concerns about its impact on the fragile ecosystem. Osceola-Hart says Indigenous communities plan to rally outside in protest during President Trump's visit.
“We have to protect the place that protected us,” Osceola-Hart said.
