TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — At the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida is quickly constructing a $450 million-a-year immigration detention center in the heart of the Everglades as part of the state’s push to coordinate with President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda.
The facility, which has been informally dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” has received heavy pushback and a legal challenge, but it has also been a boon for the national profile of both DeSantis and his appointed attorney general, James Uthmeier. Both have received waves of national attention — and a resulting boost to their political stock.
“They are locking people in a swamp in extreme heat with no clear plan for humane conditions,” Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones said on a call with reporters organized by Florida Democrats on Friday morning.
The effort was spearheaded by Uthmeier, DeSantis’ former chief of staff — whom he appointed this year to serve as Florida attorney general — in order to create an immigrant-focused South Florida version of Alcatraz, the now-shuttered prison off the coast of San Francisco that was notorious for being nearly inescapable because it is situated in the San Francisco Bay, more than a mile from land.
DeSantis has long made immigration enforcement a linchpin of his political messaging, so the effort to build a headline-grabbing facility surrounded by swamps, snakes and alligators, is consistent with the administration’s overarching policy goals.
But the effort has had the ancillary effect of amplifying his political profile after a failed 2024 presidential bid, and the fortunes of Uthmeier, who will be on the ballot for the first time during the 2026 midterms.
“This is going to be a force multiplier, and we are really happy to be working with the federal government to satisfy President Trump’s mandate,” DeSantis said Friday morning while touring the facility live on “Fox & Friends.”
The move to further boost Florida’s status as the state working hardest to enact policies that align with Trump’s immigration agenda is nothing new, but the creation of Alligator Alcatraz is without question the highest-profile effort to date, and it has come with the benefit of being popular with the Republican base.
The Fox News interview gave DeSantis a high-profile platform Friday, but since June 18, the term “Alligator Alcatraz” has received unique mentions on both national and local media roughly 3,400 times, according to TVEyes, a service that monitors media mentions. It’s a clear indication that for the first time since his failed presidential bid, DeSantis is breaking through the national media ecosystem.
His supporters say his immigration policies are the right ones, and the good politics are just a natural byproduct.
“Other than the economy, immigration is the No. 1 issue among Republican voters,” said Nick Iarossi, a Florida lobbyist and longtime DeSantis supporter. “So if the of the governor and attorney general are strong on immigration and supportive of President Trump’s immigration agenda, that’s going to enhance their popularity with the base and the president.”
“Alligator Alcatraz is designed to enforce immigration laws and keep people safe,” he added. “It’s a win-win for them.”
Trump has yet to chime in on the idea, but his Department of Homeland Security offered the needed federal sign-off for Florida to operate the facility, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised the effort in a statement this week.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” she said. “We will expand facilities and bed spaces in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”
The White House did not respond to a request seeking comment for this story.
A Trump adviser told NBC News that the president supports “any proposal or initiative that helps his effort to remove illegals from our country,” but said they were unsure when, or if, Trump would comment on the Florida idea publicly.
The facility, the DeSantis administration says, is set to start housing detainees as soon as Tuesday, just seven days after construction began. It has been blasted by Democrats, immigration activists and environmentalists concerned about the impact of housing up to 3,000 people on some of the most environmentally sensitive land in the country.
Environmental groups on Friday filed a lawsuit trying to block the plan, arguing it could have devastating effects on the Everglades.
“The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Florida Everglades, which is among the groups suing. “This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
The land being used, roughly two hours west of Miami, is a little-used airstrip owned by Miami-Dade County, but it was taken over by the state for the facility under emergency powers DeSantis enacted in 2023 as part of his immigration crackdown. Under those powers, the state can seize the land for immigration enforcement-related activities.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat considering a run for governor in 2026, opposed the plan.
Despite the pushback, the DeSantis administration has executed the Uthmeier-led plan at a breakneck pace.
Using its emergency powers, Florida, led by its emergency management division, has brought in tents, construction crews and portable toilets, hired nearly a dozen vendors, seized the land and said the site is set to be operational in just seven days.
From a political perspective, the push to create an immigration detention center in the middle of a Florida swamp has also helped fundraising.
Uthmeier is working to build out his campaign infrastructure ahead of 2026 and has seen “a fundraising boost over the past week,” according to a campaign source familiar with his numbers. The Republican Party of Florida has seen an increase in traffic to its website and donation links of 400%-500% in the same time period, according to a party official. It’s also started selling “Alligator Alcatraz” merchandise, including shirts and hats, on its website.
It comes at a time when DeSantis’ political future is uncertain. He is term-limited and cannot seek re-election as governor, but many suspect he is once again eyeing a run for president in 2028. Early 2028 public polling has not been kind to DeSantis, generally showing him trailing Vice President JD Vance, the current perceived front-runner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also from Florida.
“For a guy who wants to run for president, I’m not sure how this could have gone any better,” a veteran GOP pollster said. “He needed to try and break through somehow, and so far it seems to be working for him. I don’t know if he has a real shot or not, but this sort of thing can only help with the base who is looking for the Trump heir apparent.”
For Uthmeier, it also boosts his profile, a needed step for a little-known attorney general who is eager to try and fend off a serious primary challenger. DeSantis is starting to get national recognition for the Alligator Alcatraz idea, but ultimately it was spearheaded by Uthmeier, who is getting more media attention as a result.
“Alligator Alcatraz has been a boon for press for Florida, getting Governor DeSantis attention,” Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power said in a message to NBC News. “An even bigger winner though is Attorney General James Uthmeier who has been a regular on TV selling a tremendously popular idea with the Republican base.”
Despite the early political success, there is still one threshold DeSantis has not yet totally cleared: Trump’s public praise.
“We can land Air Force One right there,” DeSantis said during his “Fox & Friends” interview from the South Florida airstrip when asked about Trump coming to visit the site. “No problem. We will get it done.”
“I think the president would be impressed with what these guys are doing out here,” he said.
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