(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump is anticipated to go to Florida’s controversial detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” when it opens Tuesday, a supply conversant in the matter instructed NewsNation.
The immigrant detention center, fast-tracked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is positioned deep within the state’s Everglades wetlands on the location of the deserted Dade-Collier Coaching and Transition Airport within the Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect.
The facility will embody non permanent constructions corresponding to heavy-duty tents and trailers to deal with detained immigrants. The state has estimated that by early July, it’s going to have 5,000 immigration detention beds in operation.
Environmental teams worry the location will hurt the Everglades’ ecosystem, which is teeming with large reptiles, together with alligators and Burmese pythons.
DeSantis has touted the world’s wildlife as a constructive: “Clearly, from a safety perspective, if somebody escapes, you understand, there’s lots of alligators. Nobody’s going wherever.”
The ill-fated airport initially deliberate for the area was deserted in 1970 after an environmental report warned that constructing an enormous airport within the Everglades would “result in land drainage and improvement for agriculture, transportation, and providers within the Massive Cypress Swamp which is able to inexorably destroy the south Florida ecosystem and thus the Everglades Nationwide Park,” in accordance with the National Park Service.
Some Native American leaders declare the middle encroaches on sacred land. There are 15 conventional Miccosukee and Seminole villages, in addition to ceremonial and burial grounds and different gathering websites, in Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect, the place the airstrip is positioned.
Human rights activists have referred to as the power inhumane and raised points with doubtlessly hundreds of individuals being housed in non permanent tents and trailers throughout Florida’s hurricane season.
Environmental teams late Friday filed a last-minute lawsuit to halt the power’s opening.
In response, DeSantis’ workplace mentioned the detention middle is a “essential staging operation for mass deportations positioned at a preexisting airport that may haven’t any impression on the encompassing surroundings.”
DeSantis can also be reportedly contemplating a second processing center at Camp Blanding, a Nationwide Guard coaching base.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
