I know this area well, having spent some time with the #Seminole peoples when I was a youngster. It is beautiful, deadly, and environmentally sensitive!
#Protesters line highway in #FloridaEverglades to oppose ‘#AlligatorAlcatraz’
By MAKIYA SEMINERA
Updated 8:40 PM EDT, June 28, 2025
"A coalition of groups, ranging from #EnvironmentalActivists to #NativeAmericans advocating for their ancestral homelands, converged outside an airstrip in the Florida #Everglades Saturday to protest the imminent construction of an immigrant detention center.
"Hundreds of protesters lined part of U.S. #Highway41 that slices through the marshy Everglades — also known as #TamiamiTrail — as dump trucks hauling materials lumbered into the airfield. Cars passing by honked in support as protesters waved signs calling for the protection of the expansive preserve that is home to a few Native tribes and several #EndangeredAnimal species.
"Christopher McVoy, an ecologist, said he saw a steady stream of trucks entering the site while he protested for hours. #EnvironmentalDegradation was a big reason why he came out Saturday. But as a South Florida city commissioner, he said concerns over #ImmigrationRaids in his city also fueled his opposition."
#ProtectTheGlades #NoAlligatorAlcatraz #ICEDetentionCenter #SeminoleTribe #ProtectTheSacred #MiccosukeeTribe #BigCypressNationalPreserve #StopAlligatorAlcatraz #ICEACAB #StopDetentionCentersEverywhere
Protesters line highway in Florida Everglades to oppose 'Alligator Alcatraz'
The Florida immigration detention site dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is being met by opposition from a range of groups concerned with its impacts on local Native American tribes, the Everglades ecosystem and human rights for migrants. The compound is being constructed on a remote airstrip in the swamplands of the Florida Everglades under the state's emergency powers. But groups at a protest on Saturday say its construction should be halted. Native American leaders in the area say the center encroaches on their sacred homelands. Florida officials have forged ahead anyway and expect 5,000 immigration detention beds to be in operation by early July.

