New video shows views from above Alligator Alcatraz, migrant detention center near Everglades
The center was the brainchild of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who announced the site in a video on X. In the video, Uthmeier said, "You don't need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons."
A new sign was installed for Alligator Alcatraz, the ICE detention center in the Florida Everglades. Opening day at the Dade-Collier Training Airport site in Ochopee, Florida, was July 1, 2025.
The site was home to the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used emergency powers to seize the land to erect Alligator Alcatraz.
The Collier County property spans 39 square miles and detainees are housed in tents similar to those provided by FEMA to people displaced by natural disasters.
What is Alligator Alcatraz?
The controversial center reportedly has a capacity of up to 3,000 detainees with ability to expand to 5,000, housed in cages inside FEMA tents and trailers.
On Friday, July 25, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had begun flying undocumented immigrants out of Alligator Alcatraz "in the last few days."
The detention center is managed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, ICE and other federal agencies.
Where in Florida is Alligator Alcatraz?
Alligator Alcatraz was built at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airport facility with a 10,500-foot runway in Ochopee, an unincorporated community in Collier County, Florida.
The facility is in the Big Cypress National Preserve which borders the Everglades.
Is there air conditioning at Alligator Alcatraz?
According to Florida Division of Emergency Management Deputy Director of Communications Stephanie Hartman, "there is working air conditioning throughout the facility."
Aerial video of Alligator Alcatraz near Florida Everglades
"From above, Alligator Alcatraz looks like a small city in the swamp," Reuters titled its July 24, 2025, aerial video of the migrant detention facility.
The footage shows rows of tents, campers and portable buildings at the site.
Why do they call it Alligator Alcatraz?
The facility is in the Big Cypress Preserve and borders the Everglades, both of which are home to vast swamps and wetlands teeming with alligators.
Alcatraz was a maximum security prison on an island over a mile off the coast of San Francisco. It was thought to be escape-proof, though three inmates broke out in 1962. However, they were never seen or heard from again.
The FBI's investigation concluded the men likely did not survive the strong currents and frigid Bay water and no credible evidence emerged to suggest the men were still alive.
The FBI officially closed its case on December 31, 1979, and turned over responsibility to the U.S. Marshals Service, which continues to investigate in the unlikely event the trio is still alive.
Contributing: J. Kyle Foster, Tayeba Hussein, Stacey Henson, Naples Daily News
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: New video shows views from above Alligator Alcatraz, migrant detention center near Everglades
