‘People I Know Are In Tears’: Hundreds Gather To Protest Constructing Immigrant Detention Center ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Hundreds of people lined a Florida highway Saturday to protest the construction of an immigrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Protestors gathered alongside U.S. Highway 41 which cuts through the Everglades in the area known as Tamiami Trail, according to the Associated Press (AP). Those protesting included Native Americans advocating for their homelands and environmental activists, calling for the preservation of the area home to multiple endangered animal species and Native tribes, the outlet reported.

“We have to advocate for all of us,” a protestor can be heard saying in a clip shared on X. The video shows dump trucks carrying materials driving through as protestors gathered along either side of the road. Protestors can be seen holding signs and American flags as cars drive past.

“I don’t know if any of you have been to a spiritual place, or maybe you go to church to find that spiritual place, or wherever your spiritual place is, find it in your hearts to pray for these people who are lost so that they can become human beings again. Cause if they’re human beings again, this will stop,” the woman continued.

I’m out in the Everglades at “Alligator Alcatraz” as a couple hundred protesters line the entrance to the planned migrant detention facility @NBCNightlyNews pic.twitter.com/fgN7kxqRMo

— Ryan Chandler (@RyanChandlerTV) June 28, 2025

Ecologist Christopher McVoy told the AP the main reason he came out to the protest was environmental degradation. He also voiced his concerns over the immigration raids in South Florida.

“People I know are in tears, and I wasn’t far from it,” he told the AP. (RELATED: ‘One-Stop Shop’: Ron DeSantis Shows Off New Alligator-Friendly Facility For Illegals)

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Demonstrators protest the construction of an immigrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” in the Everglades near Ochopee, Florida, on June 28, 2025. Florida began construction this week on a detention center surrounded by fierce reptiles and cypress swamps, an “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades wetlands, as part of US President Donald Trump’s expansion of deportations of undocumented migrants. The chosen site, an abandoned airfield in the heart of a sprawling network of mangrove forests, imposing marshes and “rivers of grass” that form the conservation area, will house large tents and beds for 1,000 “criminal aliens,” according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier. (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)

Saturday’s protest was reportedly prompted by Native American leaders in the area who view the facility’s construction as encroachment on their land. The area is home to burial and ceremonial grounds, the AP reported.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of the Everglades filed a lawsuit on Friday in hopes of pausing the construction plans, fearing the environmental impact. The organization’s executive director told the AP, “The Everglades is a vast, interconnected system of waterways and wetlands, and what happens in one area can have damaging impacts downstream.”

Demonstrators protest the construction of an immigrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” in the Everglades near Ochopee, Florida, on June 28, 2025. Florida began construction this week on a detention center surrounded by fierce reptiles and cypress swamps, an “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades wetlands, as part of US President Donald Trump’s expansion of deportations of undocumented migrants. The chosen site, an abandoned airfield in the heart of a sprawling network of mangrove forests, imposing marshes and “rivers of grass” that form the conservation area, will house large tents and beds for 1,000 “criminal aliens,” according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier. (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier proposed Alligator Alcatraz earlier in June, hoping to utilize the abandoned airport as a detention center.

“The Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility – this is an old, virtually abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades,” Uthmeier told Florida’s Voice. “Florida’s been leading on immigration enforcement, supporting the Trump administration and ICE efforts to detain and deport criminal aliens.”

The attorney general said his proposal followed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ call upon state officials to find areas suitable for temporary detention facilities. Uthmeier said once construction starts, the facility can be operational within one to two months.

“It presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” he told the outlet. “People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”