Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday (US time) that multiple facilities to fix the “illegal immigration problem” were coming to the American state soon. One among those has been contentiously named ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ as it leaves no room for detainees to escape. Even if they choose to, they would be left with no resort but to face off against alligators and pythons in the wetlands around the site.

The Department of Homeland Security has officially approved the plans for the massive detention centre. Even DHS Secretary Kristi Noem affirmed that the federal government will be funding Florida’s effort to set up a slew of immigration detention centres.

“We are working on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations,” DHS said in an X post on June 23. “Alligator Alcatraz will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”

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Federal Govt to fund Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz

As per Noem’s revelations about the facility’s operation costs, Alligator Alcatraz (along with other such smaller sites) will be funded “in large part” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) shelter and services program. Congress created the initiative to support groups and cities receiving migrants released from federal custody along the US-Mexico border, according to a CBS News report.

According to the New York Times, this huge facility in question and other such planned establishment will cost Florida around $450 million a year to operate. DHS Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has since said that the state can count on some reimbursement from the FEMA.

Massive US detention centre: ‘No way in, no way out’

In a previous tweet, Uthmeier called Alligator Alcatraz “the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.” He also revealed that a massive abandoned airfield in Florida’s Everglades would be revamped to house the detention facility for those living in the US unlawfully.

“There’s really nowhere to go. If you’re housed there, if you’re detained there, there’s no way in, no way out,” he said in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson. Further describing the new Florida detention centre, he said that it could hold as many as 5,000 detainees.

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Alligator Alcatraz aligns with Trump’s vision

With work on the facility having started on Monday morning, Uthmeier said it could receive detainees early next month. Even McLaughlin backed those claims, saying that they intend to put up at least some tents by July.

The scary addition is set to expand President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown efforts. The project even aligns with the Republican leader’s private vision of “fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators,” as quoted by NYT. Since coming back to office in January, Trump has relied on Guantanamo Bay and the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador for housing migrants.