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TALLAHASSEE, FLA. \u2014 Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.<\/p>\n
A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on June 26, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the county-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles west of downtown Miami.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there\u2019s \u201cnot much\u201d there other than pythons and alligators.<\/p>\n
Indigenous leaders who can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years dispute that \u2014 and they\u2019re condemning the state\u2019s plans to build what\u2019s been dubbed \u201c Alligator Alcatraz \u201d on their homelands.<\/p>\n
For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe\u2019s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,\u201d Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.<\/p>\n
There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics have condemned the facility and what they call the state\u2019s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida\u2019s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
The Florida National Guard is preparing to deploy up to 100 soldiers to the facility on July 1 to provide site security and staff augmentation, and other support \u201cas directed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a set timeline for this mission due to the fluid nature of the situation, but we will stay on the ground for as long as we\u2019re needed and at the direction of Governor DeSantis,\u201d FNG spokesperson Brittianie Funderburk said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.<\/p>\n
Indigenous leaders and activists were slated to to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is \u201csacred\u201d and should be \u201cprotected, not destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,\u201d Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we need to protect it for our future generations,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n