July 2, 2025 (newrepublic.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump during his tour of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention center in Ochopee, Florida<\/p>\n\n\n\n What were you doing the day the president attended the opening of an American concentration camp in the Everglades? Dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d by Republican officials because of the predators living in the surrounding swampland, it has been built to cage thousands of people rounded up by ICE and allied law enforcement agencies as part of President Trump\u2019s mass deportations. \u201c\u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 is a concentration camp,\u201d Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>a history of concentration camps, said<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That morning, Trump attended the camp\u2019s<\/a> opening in Ochopee, Florida, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. \u201cWe\u2019d like to see them in many states,\u201d Trump said<\/a> at a press conference there. \u201cAnd at some point, they might morph into a system where you\u2019re going to keep it for a long time.\u201d He complained about the cost of building jails and prisons, then complimented his team, who \u201cdid this in less than a week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the event, Trump wore<\/a> one of his signature red ball caps, this one reading \u201cGulf of America,\u201d his jingoistic name for the nearby Gulf of Mexico; Noem wore<\/a> a white \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d ball cap with gold stitching. The flimsy camp offered them some shelter from the punishing humidity, which would later give way to a downpour. A C-Span camera followed<\/a> them into one of the massive tents, where rows of chain-link cages<\/a> contained numerous bunk beds\u2014for the moment, empty. Photographers raced ahead of Trump and Noem to get shots of them entering, taking in the cells, pausing to ask inaudible questions. DeSantis stood as if he did not know where to put his hands. \u201cThey\u2019re going to sweep this six times to make sure there\u2019s nothing that could be used as contraband, as weapons,\u201d DeSantis told<\/a> Trump a bit too brightly, \u201cbefore the detainees come in.\u201d He smiled<\/a> as he told reporters about how soon their prisoners would \u201ccheck in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The American concentration camp on view Tuesday was erected within the Big Cypress National Preserve, traditional Miccosukee land<\/a>. The tribe was not consulted, said<\/a> Betty Osceola, a member and activist who lives a few miles from the camp\u2019s entrance. She was one of hundreds<\/a> of people protesting on the road outside the camp over the last several days as massive trucks streamed into the site. \u201cPeople should be concerned about the secrecy of this,\u201d Osceola told<\/a> the Fort Myers News-Press<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal. Our ancestors were laid to rest in this area, and they talk about it like it\u2019s a vast wasteland. It\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The site of the camp is also public-owned land, most recently occupied by the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, \u201ca remote facility for promising pilots to practice their touch-and-goes amid disinterested herons and alligators,\u201d according to<\/a> The Palm Beach Post.<\/em> An executive order<\/a> issued by DeSantis cited a nonexistent \u201cemergency\u201d to get around the legal process<\/a> for building on the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two environmental groups working in the area, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a lawsuit<\/a> Friday \u201cto halt the unlawful construction of a mass federal detention facility for up to 5,000 noncitizen detainees.\u201d Friends of the Everglades noted<\/a> that their group was founded in part to stop construction of a major jetport<\/a> on the same site. Members of the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes fought<\/a> against the jetport too\u2014generations ago. The state of Florida contended<\/a> in court on Monday that the \u201crisks\u201d of not<\/em> locking up immigrants on the site (on this expedited pseudo-emergency basis) \u201coverwhelm any incidental environmental harm.\u201d They also claimed the site was \u201ctemporary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no reason to believe any of the claims from the Florida and federal governments. The same day the concentration camp opened, ABC News reported<\/a> that despite Trump\u2019s campaign refrain that his mass deportations would target \u201ccriminals,\u201d \u201cnew data shows a recent shift toward also arresting those who have not been accused of crimes.\u201d This was foretold by Tom Homan, Trump\u2019s \u201cimmigration czar,\u201d who was the face of the mass deportation plan long before Trump returned to the White House. \u201cNo one\u2019s off the table,\u201d Homan said<\/a> at the Republican National Convention last summer. \u201cThe bottom line is: Every illegal alien is a criminal. They enter the country in violation of federal law. It\u2019s a crime to enter this country illegally.\u201d Every immigrant\u2014every person the Trump administration said<\/em> was an immigrant\u2014was a target from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday, a reporter asked Homan about an ailing 75-year-old Cuban man who died<\/a> in ICE custody recently. His response<\/a>: \u201cPeople die in ICE custody.\u201d He complained, \u201cThe questions should be, how many lives has ICE saved?\u201d He challenged reporters to look into ICE\u2019s detention standards. Last week, Wired<\/em> reported<\/a> on a chilling pattern of apparent neglect inside immigrant detention centers, based on nearly 400 calls made to 911 from the 10 largest ICE facilities. Incidents included seizures, self-harm, and sexual abuse. Some calls were made by the people caged inside, desperate for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At his press conference at the concentration camp, Trump learned that his massive budget bill had passed the Senate. The funding<\/a> in the bill will make ICE the largest jailer in the world, with $200 billion at its disposal. As Felipe De La Hoz<\/a> wrote<\/a> last month for TNR, the bill \u201cwould take everything we\u2019ve seen so far\u201d\u2014the targeting of activists for their speech<\/a>, masked agents grabbing people off the street, sudden flights to Guant\u00e1namo<\/a> or out of the country, ramping up detentions\u2014and crank it to 11.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A storm blew through the concentration camp during the press tour. Florida reporter Jason Delgado captured<\/a> videos showing a layer of rainwater blowing across the floor of the cells, while the soft roof of one tent rippled in the wind. Water pooled at the base of the American and Florida state flags and around extension cords for lights. \u201cThe state says the sites here are rated to withstand a category two hurricane,\u201d he posted<\/a> on X. Two stronger hurricanes that made landfall last year \u2014Helene<\/a> and Milton<\/a>\u2014brought flooding<\/a> and tornadoes to the area. People in jails and prisons in Florida were not evacuated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside the concentration camp, when the storm hit, the protesters were still there<\/a>. Some had been there for days<\/a>. No one can say, years from now, that nobody knew about the camp, or that no one pushed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Melissa Gira Grant<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Melissa Gira Grant is a staff writer at The New Republic<\/em> and the author of Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Republicans are proudly calling it \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d Let\u2019s call it what it is. Melissa Gira Grant\/ July 2, 2025 (newrepublic.com) ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES Trump during his tour of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention center in Ochopee, Florida What were you doing the day the president attended the opening… Continue reading ![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/images.newrepublic.com\/47974865cdc4b144933b6a0fc0a6eeaa07ee687a.jpeg?auto=format&fit=crop&crop=faces&q=65&w=1000&ar=3%3A2&ixlib=react-9.10.0\")
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