Trump expected at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ opening
Florida’s new immigration detention center in the Everglades is expected to open with President Donald Trump likely in attendance.
Fox – 13 News
President Donald Trump is visiting the new “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday, July 1, as the administration plays up the center’s harsh environs and doubles down on hardline immigration rhetoric popular with the president’s base.
“There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight; it is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said June 30. “This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.”
Trump also mentioned the wildlife found near the facility before leaving the White House on July 1, suggesting anyone who escapes the center not to “run in a straight line,” as snakes and alligators are “fast.”
Since taking office in January, the president has plunged ahead with hardline immigration policies, following through with many elements of his campaign messaging. It has become a central issue for the president and his Republican party after playing a critical role in the 2024 election. One in eight voters said immigration was the most important issue, according to Reuters.
What do polls show about Trump’s immigration policies?
While the Republican base has long favored Trump’s hardline immigration policies, opinions among Americans have wavered over the past few months, in the face of an escalating effort to deport undocumented immigrants and anti-ICE protests in June.
Yet in a pair of polls released last week, in which overall approval of the president’s job performance sank to 41%, views on his immigration policies have also dipped.
In a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, June 26, 41% approved of Trump’s immigration policies, with 57% disapproving. And on the topic of deportations, opinion was even lower, at a 39% approval and 59% disapproval.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted June 21-23 revealed 49% of respondents said the country was headed in the wrong direction on immigration, with a 43% overall approval of the president’s policies on the subject.
In both polls, positive opinions of the president were dramatically split across party lines, with nearly 85% of Republicans surveyed by Reuters/Ipsos approving of his performance, and 87% of GOP members in the Quinnipiac poll. That also extended to respondents’ views on immigration and deportations, with Republicans consistently more supportive than Democrats and independents.
Recent polls show that Americans who helped elect Trump to his second term overwhelmingly like what they see so far. In a June 16 Ipsos-Reuters poll, 9 out of 10 respondents who said they voted for Trump in November also said they approved of his performance in office so far.
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ the latest symbol of Trump’s immigration policies
With immigration a clear source of energy among Trump supporters, the administration and Florida GOP officials have leaned hard into “Alligator Alcatraz” as a symbol of this massive crackdown on immigrants in America.
The number of people in federal immigration detention have risen sharply to 56,000 by June 15, from 39,000 when Trump took office, a Reuters analysis of government data shows, and his administration has pushed to find more space. The complex in southern Florida at the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport is estimated to cost $450 million annually and could house some 5,000 people, officials estimate.
Contributing: Reuters.
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.
