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President Trump says Florida can be a model for other states that want to help the federal government deport immigrants without legal status. Trump joined Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other officials yesterday to tour a new detention center that's being called Alligator Alcatraz. NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Trump flew Air Force One to the hastily constructed facility at a training airport near Everglades National Park. He clearly likes the location - in the heart of an unforgiving freshwater marsh known for its alligators, pythons and mosquitoes.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don't have to pay them so much. But - I wouldn't want to run through the Everglades for long.
ALLEN: The state and federal government have moved quickly, building the 3,000-bed facility in just over a week. But there have been protests by immigrant advocates, environmental groups and Indigenous people who live in the Everglades. Some of them filed a federal lawsuit last week asking a judge to block the site from being used as a detention center. Paul Schwiep, an attorney representing the environmental groups, says the Trump administration and the state of Florida are seeking to ignore federal law that requires them to hold hearings and consider the project's impact.
PAUL SCHWIEP: They rushed this through, and all we hear is the governor and the president today saying there will be no environmental impact. Why? Because they say there will be no environmental impact.
ALLEN: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the first migrants were set to be moved to the site almost immediately following President Trump's visit. DeSantis says he wants the federal government to deputize National Guard troops and other individuals at the detention center so they can act as immigration judges and expedite deportations.
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RON DESANTIS: I'll have a National Guard judge advocate here. Someone has a notice to appear, Biden would tell them to come back in three years and appear. Now you'll be able to appear in, like, a day or two. So they're not going to be detained, hopefully, for all that long.
ALLEN: It's something for which there is no legal precedent, but Trump says he's on board with the plan. Part of the point of yesterday's tour of a facility in the middle of a daunting environment with dangerous wildlife was to send a message to people who are in the U.S. without legal status. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status have already left the country on their own. And as deportations increase, she expects that number to grow.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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