The Trump administration is planning to potentially plunge millions of American tax dollars into a new anti-immigrant pet project in Florida that sounds like it was pulled from medieval times.
You may have heard of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz being constructed in the Everglades. If not, it’s basically an old airfield that Florida Republicans are turning into a tent-filled detention facility for immigrants — and which will be surrounded by fearsome reptiles.
As The New York Times reports:
The remote facility, composed of large tents, and other planned facilities will cost the state around $450 million a year to run, but Florida can request some reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, a Trump ally who has pushed to build the detention center in the Everglades, has said the state will not need to invest much in security because the area is surrounded by dangerous wildlife, including alligators and pythons. A spokesperson for the attorney general said work on the new facility started on Monday morning.
One might say using FEMA money for such a project — after Trump has denied such aid for residents in Democratic-led states — is cruel and deranged.
As the administration also withholds congressionally authorized funding for everything from to cancer research to efforts against child sex trafficking, this moat … thing … is apparently a more worthy use of our tax dollars. The plan is part of an effort to help the administration ramp up its mass deportation agenda, which has ensnared American citizens and is largely targeting people with no criminal convictions to speak of — contradicting Trump’s campaign rhetoric that his deportations would target hardened criminals.
One might say using FEMA money for such a project — after Trump has denied such aid for residents in Democratic-led states — is cruel and deranged. As the Times noted, Trump repeatedly floated the idea of building a border moat filled with alligators or snakes during his first term. The plan also sounds quite similar to a plan he floated for homeless people back in 2022, which he conceded would be controversial but said would involve “high-quality tents” on “large parcels of inexpensive land in the outer reaches of the cities.” Unlike in 2019, when Trump’s administration considered using FEMA money for another archaic anti-immigrant project — a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — the president’s wish for medieval-style immigration enforcement seems like it’s on the verge of becoming reality in this case. It’s worth noting, though, that the administration already is facing backlash over reportedly inhumane conditions being foisted on immigrants in detention centers across the country. And it seems more than a little presumptuous to think treatment will be much better in what effectively is a jail for immigrants encircled by snakes and alligators.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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