Critics have condemned the detention facility and what they call the state’s 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’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

A massive immigrant detention camp nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" will open in early July at an abandoned airfield in the Florida Everglades, according to Florida's attorney general. It is expected to house 5,