More performative DJT PR posturing? What do you reckon?
Trump visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ sending a political message
Americans increasingly disapprove of Trump’s immigration policies, but the issue energizes his core supporters.
“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation,” he added.
Trump also raised the idea of deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes, an idea he floated earlier this year.
“We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time, people that whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they’re not looking and killing people, that knife you when you’re walking down the street. … Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, if you want to know the truth,” he said.
“So maybe that’ll be the next job that we’ll work on together,” he said. Under U.S. law, the government has no authority to deport citizens.
Trump at times mixed up some of his answers, referring to a railroad when he meant an airport or mixing up the Everglades in Florida with the Meadowlands in New Jersey — quickly correcting himself in both instances. Toward the end, he was asked twice about how long detainees would spend in the Florida detention facility, but appeared to mishear the question and instead answered by responding about how much time he himself would be spending in Florida.
Asked earlier in the day whether the intent was for the alligators to eat escaping detainees, Trump said he guessed “that’s the concept.”
“This is not a nice business,” Trump said as he left the White House wearing a red cap that said “Gulf of America.”
Detainees should be taught not to run away from the reptiles in a straight line, he said, making a zigzagging motion with his hand. (Experts have debunked this advice and do recommend running away from alligators in a straight line.)
“And you know what? Your chances go up about 1 percent,” he said. “That’s not a good thing.”
The visit and the administration’s rhetoric around it appear designed to highlight Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration and his goal of mass deportations.
Americans display growing disapproval of Trump’s immigration policies, according to numerous polls. But the issue energizes Trump’s base.
Officials also see the dark messaging as a way to deter potential immigrants from entering the country illegally and, perhaps, as a way to prod some of those in the country without legal authorization to leave.
Polling on immigration clearly illustrates the divide between Trump’s supporters and the country as a whole.
A June 26 Quinnipiac poll found that 57 percent of registered voters disapproved of Trump’s immigration policies, up from 46 percent in January.
A similar trend of rising disapproval shows up in polling from YouGov. The most recent YouGov-Economist poll found that 50 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump’s immigration policies, compared with 47 percent who approved. Through early April, a majority of Americans approved of Trump’s immigration policies, according to YouGov’s surveys.
At the same time, however, the late June YouGov survey found that 87 percent of 2024 Trump voters supported his immigration policies, including 74 percent who said they “strongly approve” of how he has handled the issue.
The new detention center in Florida has been a flash point in the immigration debate. Immigration rights groups have raised human rights concerns about the makeshift facilities at the airstrip on the edge of Florida’s Big Cypress swamp. Environmental groups have warned about potential harm to wildlife, and a local Native American tribe has also opposed the development of the site.
As Trump arrived, several dozen protesters gathered about two miles from the site along Route 41, which crosses the Everglades near the detention center. They held signs that said, “No ICE in the Everglades,” “ICE Melts in Miami” and “Hands Off” above paintings of alligators.
Protesters said they were motivated to come out in the muggy heat because of concerns about the treatment of immigrants and potential environmental harms from the center.
The wildlife is on our side, on the side of people protecting their habitat,” said Rachel Bass, an artist from Cape Coral, Florida. “Alligators don’t want to be security guards for fascism.”
Increased truck traffic from the center poses a real risk, said one 26-year-old protester, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of restrictions from his employer. He pointed out the carcass of an alligator rotting on the side of the road, which had been run over by a vehicle.
Trump and DeSantis dismissed the environmental concerns, noting that the airstrip has been in place for decades.
“We’ll be gone a million years, and this land is still going to be here,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be much different. You’ll have the water moccasins. You’ll have the alligators. You may not have people, but you’re going to have all those animals. They’re going to be around.”
The administration has been leaning into the controversy surrounding the detention center, offering dark memes in attention-grabbing ways. The White House has shared videos on its official social media accounts with song lyrics such as “ice, ice, baby” and “hey, hey, goodbye.”
Ahead of Trump’s visit, the Department of Homeland Security on Saturday shared a digitally altered image of alligators wearing ICE caps.
Florida politicians have been joining in. The Republican Party of Florida is selling insulated cup sleeves and T-shirts branded with “Alligator Alcatraz,” in fundraising emails that describe the site as a “gator-guarded, python-patrolled prison for illegal aliens who thought they could game the system.”
DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R), who first announced the plan to the public on June 19, have emphasized how dangerous the area is because of Everglades wildlife. Uthmeier said alligators and pythons will discourage escape attempts.
“The security is amazing, natural and otherwise,” DeSantis said, echoing that warning.
Alligator attacks on humans are unusual — the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said in a recent report that “the likelihood of a Florida resident being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator incident in Florida is roughly only one in 3.1 million.”
While DeSantis and Uthmeier depict the area as deadly, the Big Cypress National Preserve is prized for its serenity by people who live there. For them, alligator attacks are not a concern, said Conny Randolph, who lives about five miles away, near the small town of Ochopee. She frequently camps out in the preserve.
“The image they’re trying to convey is unrealistic. It’s just ludicrous,” Randolph said.
Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, lives three miles from the detention facility.
“It’s a beautiful landscape full of cypress trees, cabbage palm trees. It’s very peaceful. We see wading birds. In the evening, you see deer. We have the occasional bear cross our property, and recently we’ve seen coyotes and bobcats,” Osceola said. “It’s a very tranquil place.”
It’s also habitat for the endangered Florida panther.
Talbert Cypress, chairman of the Miccosukee, said the tribe opposes the detention facility.
“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homeland,” Cypress said on his social media accounts, noting that 19 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages are nearby. “The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations.”
Deporting hard working people who stimulate the economy and pay taxes is evil. Their motive.. when these workers get older they might require medical care which they don't want to help pay for though taxes... because they refuse to regulate healthcare industry and costs basically.
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