'Alligator Alcatraz' critics call it cruel. Supporters cashing in on merch

Critics call Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz' cruel

President Donald Trump announced a new immigration detention center in the Everglades, called Alligator Alcatraz, designed to hold up to 5,000 detainees.

"We're surrounded by miles of treacherous land, and the only way out is really deportation," President Donald Trump described Florida’s newest immigration detention site during a recent press conference.

They call it Alligator Alcatraz, a state-run migrant detention center tucked deep inside the Everglades, surrounded by dense swamp and alligator terrain. The facility is designed to hold up to 5,000 detainees, and migrants from across the country are already being transported there.

"Very soon this facility will have some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet," Trump said. But that claim doesn’t line up with Florida’s own Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan, which lays out detailed procedures for handling children, pregnant women, seniors, and families—regardless of criminal history.

"It is motivated purely and wholly by cruelty," said immigration attorney Jose Osorio. Osorio says he’s not surprised to learn that undocumented immigrants without criminal convictions could end up in a remote detention center surrounded by alligators. In his view, it’s part of a broader strategy to wear people down. "When you have individuals who are being picked up in California, in Texas, in Arizona—they’re being sent across the country to Alligator Alcatraz to be away from their families, to break them down so that they give up their rights and accept a deportation order. It is motivated purely and wholly by cruelty," Osorio said.

Despite the controversy, plenty of people seem to support the idea. Alligator Alcatraz merchandise is being sold on social media, and videos of families posing for photos outside the facility have started to surface.

Meanwhile, back in Southern California, some are still in disbelief that Alligator Alcatraz is real. "It seems a little bit weird. I don’t see why you have to put alligators surrounding it. You could just build a basic prison camp, if anything," said one man.

"The man must think they’re animals—to scare them," said a woman. "It’s something I would hear out of a comedic movie. I’m just dumbfounded by that," said another person.

We reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. We have not received a response yet.