WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
US President Donald Trump will attend the opening of a remote immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” today as he presses lawmakers to pass a sweeping budget bill that would ramp up deportations.
The facility is located about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Miami, amidst vast subtropical wetlands teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons — a powerful symbol the White House has used to demonstrate its determination to expel migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the country under former President Joe Biden.
“There’s only one way to get there, and the only way out is on a one-way plane; the place is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and rugged terrain,” White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said at a press conference yesterday. “This is an efficient and cost-effective way to carry out the largest mass deportation in the history of the United States.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are still debating the details of a bill that could significantly increase funds for deportations. Trump is pushing hard for the bill to pass before the July 4th holiday. The package, in addition to the immigration budget, also includes his other tax and spending plans.
The Republican president, who has a home in Florida, has made tough border measures a core part of his political agenda for years. One in eight voters in the 2024 election said immigration was his top issue.
But Trump's campaign promises to deport up to a million people a year have been met with resistance in affected communities, opposition from employers who need cheap labor, and financial problems in a budget that is running a chronic deficit.
The number of people in federal immigration detention has risen sharply, from 39,000 when Trump took office to 56,000 as of June 15, government data shows, and his administration is seeking to provide more space.
Trump has previously praised the vast, remote prisons built by El Salvador, and his administration has also held some migrants at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, best known for holding terrorism suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Lawyers representing some of the detained migrants have challenged the legality of the deportations and criticized the conditions in the temporary detention centers.
To promote the opening of the facility, US officials posted pictures of alligators wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement caps on social media. The Florida Republican Party sells alligator-themed T-shirts and beer mugs.
The facility in south Florida, at Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, is estimated to cost about $450 million a year and could house about 5,000 people.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will send 100 National Guard members to the site. Some of the funding is expected to come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Some local leaders, including representatives of the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes, have opposed the construction of the detention center and warned of the sensitivity of the natural environment in the area. The work has also attracted numerous protesters.
“It’s a great facility,” said Trump’s border adviser, Tom Homan, yesterday. “We need more beds. That’s why we need this big, beautiful law.”
