Florida officials are reportedly in talks with the Trump administration about shutting down the controversial migrant detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” after the Department of Homeland Security concluded the massive facility may be too costly to keep running.
According to a Thursday report from The New York Times, the detention center — which opened in July 2025 with strong backing from President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — has already cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to operate.
The facility became a national flashpoint almost immediately after opening.
Just days before detainees arrived, Trump toured the site alongside then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DeSantis, praising Florida’s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration and taking a swipe at former President Joe Biden.
During the visit, Trump joked that Biden “probably wanted to put me in there,” while admiring the heavy-duty detention setup designed to house illegal migrants deep in the Florida Everglades.
But the project quickly ran into legal and political trouble.
A federal judge ordered the facility shut down in August after environmental groups and a local Native American tribe sued over concerns about the impact on nearby land and wildlife. An appeals court later blocked the shutdown order, allowing operations to continue while the legal fight played out.
The center has also faced criticism from immigrant advocacy groups and detainees, who alleged poor conditions inside the facility, including claims of maggot-infested food, withheld medication, and overcrowded living quarters.
Despite the backlash, supporters argued the facility symbolized the tougher immigration enforcement policies championed by Trump and embraced by Republican leaders frustrated with years of border chaos under Biden-era policies.
Now, with costs reportedly spiraling, Florida and federal officials appear to be reconsidering whether “Alligator Alcatraz” is sustainable long term.
A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Trump administration may continue swiftly deporting migrants while a legal challenge to the policy proceeds.
In a 2–1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit allowed the deportations to continue and moved to speed up the timeline for the next stage of the case. The panel issued its order without an accompanying explanation.
The Trump administration has expanded the use of “third-country removals” as part of its broader immigration crackdown, deporting migrants to nations other than their countries of origin. The administration has reached agreements with several countries — including Cameroon, South Sudan and Eswatini — to accept deportees.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has defended the policy as a way to remove individuals it describes as particularly dangerous.
In court filings, the administration has also argued that federal judges lack the authority to intervene in how immigration enforcement policies are carried out.
The majority on the three-judge panel included Judge Jeffrey Howard, nominated by former President George W. Bush, and Judge Seth Aframe, a nominee of former President Joe Biden. Judge Lara Montecalvo, also nominated by Biden, dissented.
The ruling lifts limits imposed by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, another Biden nominee, who is overseeing a class-action lawsuit filed last year by four noncitizens challenging the deportation policy.
Murphy ruled last month that the administration could not deport migrants to third countries without first attempting to send them to their country of citizenship or another country with which they have ties.
“It is not fine, nor is it legal,” Murphy wrote in his decision.
His order required immigration authorities to first attempt deportation to a migrant’s country of citizenship or the country normally designated for removal. If that effort failed, Murphy said migrants must be given a “meaningful opportunity” to challenge their deportation once a third country is selected.
Murphy delayed the implementation of his ruling to allow the appeals court time to weigh in. The 1st Circuit’s order keeps his decision on hold while the appeal moves forward.
Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which represents the migrants, said the group welcomed the expedited timeline.
“While the order unfortunately delays implementation of the decision, we appreciate that the First Circuit ordered a swift resolution of the merits of the government’s appeal,” Realmuto said.
The dispute has already reached the Supreme Court once. Last year, the Trump administration successfully appealed to the high court after Murphy imposed earlier limits on the policy.
In a statement following Monday’s ruling, a DHS spokesperson said the court’s decision supports the administration’s position.
“The Biden Administration allowed millions of illegal aliens to flood our country, and the Trump Administration has the authority to remove these criminal illegal aliens and clean up this national security nightmare,” the spokesperson said. “If these activist judges had their way, aliens who are so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won’t take them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers, would walk free on American streets.”
New court filings reveal that the Trump administration is threatening to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda — a move his attorneys describe as coercive. Abrego, a Salvadoran man mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year, declined a plea deal tied to human smuggling charges. In response, prosecutors withdrew an offer that would have allowed him to enter Costa Rica — a safe, Spanish-speaking country where he’d face no detention after serving time — and instead pursued deportation to Uganda.
His attorneys argue immigration authorities are essentially offering a forced choice: accept guilt and a path to Costa Rica, or refuse and risk being sent to Uganda, where his safety — and legal protections — are uncertain at best.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday offered Abrego Garcia the option to “live freely” with refugee or residency status in Costa Rica after serving prison time for federal human smuggling charges in exchange for a guilty plea, per his lawyers in the Saturday filings.
Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in his native El Salvador, declined the offer on Friday to instead return to his family in Maryland. He had been imprisoned in a Tennessee jail.
After his return to Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys were notified later in the day that he must report to an Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) field office in Baltimore on Monday — and that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to deport him to Uganda.
…
“The only thing that happened between Thursday—Costa Rica—and Friday—Uganda— was Mr. Abrego’s exercise of his legal entitlement to release under the Bail Reform Act and the Fifth Amendment…,” Abrego Garcia’s defense team wrote.
Saturday’s revelations mark a significant escalation, as Uganda recently entered into a U.S. agreement to accept third-country deportees— but explicitly excluding individuals with criminal records or unaccompanied minors. Abrego’s legal team contends that his criminal charges make such deportation both inappropriate and potentially dangerous.
A federal judge already twice rebuked by the Supreme Court is back at it—this time blocking the Trump administration from ending legal protections for thousands of Ethiopian migrants.
Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee in Massachusetts, temporarily halted the administration’s plan to strip temporary protected status (TPS) from more than 5,000 Ethiopians—a move that would have made them deportable within 60 days.
Murphy said the Department of Homeland Security didn’t follow the law when it pulled the plug on the program.
That ruling lands right in the middle of the administration’s broader push to shrink TPS and tighten immigration enforcement.
But it also lands on a judge with a track record.
Murphy has repeatedly tried to block Trump-era deportation policies—especially efforts to send migrants to third countries. The Supreme Court has stepped in twice to reverse him, even issuing a rare 7–2 clarification saying he ignored its orders. An appeals court also shut down one of his more recent rulings just last month.
Critics say this is more of the same.
“This rogue judge lacks the subject matter jurisdiction to issue this order,” Sen. Eric Schmitt said. “The assault on the rule of law continues.”
Legal analyst Jonathan Turley piled on, warning that “this system cannot function with such rogue operators at the trial level.”
Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan pointed to what he sees as a fundamental problem: the law itself.
“One big problem for Murphy is the statute: It explains TPS determinations aren’t reviewable. Another is the Supreme Court, which has stopped similar orders twice,” Wessan said. “He finds neither statute nor SCOTUS stops him. I’m unconvinced.”
Murphy, for his part, insists he’s not defying the high court. He noted that the Supreme Court hasn’t fully explained its recent TPS-related rulings—and hasn’t stepped in on every similar case.
“There is no reason to assume” the justices have settled the issue, he wrote.
The lawsuit behind the ruling claims the administration’s TPS rollback isn’t just procedural—it’s discriminatory. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue the policy is aimed at reducing non-white immigration, writing that the effort targets “the nationals of majority Black countries” in particular.
The Justice Department is expected to appeal, setting up yet another round in a growing legal fight between the Trump administration and a judge who keeps standing in its way.
By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Thomas Homan, CC BY-SA 2.0,
Things are escalating…
On Sunday, Border czar Tom Homan warned California officials could face arrest and prosecution if they “cross the line” following President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles to quell ongoing immigration protests.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a judge, a member of Congress, or a protestor in Los Angeles:
If you obstruct or assault a law enforcement officer, this Department of Justice will prosecute you.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) June 7, 2025
Trump ordered at least 2,000 National Guard members to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after two days of clashes with demonstrators, despite state and city leaders saying they had not asked for assistance.
🚨 WHY IS THIS GUY NOT BEING ARRESTED?
He is OPENLY ATTEMPTING TO KlLL federal agents in Los Angeles
Homan said Trump’s order was not only to protect law enforcement officers but also to “protect this community.”
“The rhetoric is so high against ICE officers in this city that it’s a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt,” Homan told NBC News’s Jacob Soboroff in an interview slated for broadcast Sunday night. “We’ve got help coming, and we’re going to do our job, and we’re going to continue doing that job.”
On Sunday morning, Newsom, in a post on the social platform X, claimed the federal government is “taking over the California National Guard” because “they want a spectacle.”
Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis.
He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control.
“Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully,” he added.
In the NBC News interview, Homan bashed Newsom’s comments and called him “an embarrassment for the state.”
“I have absolutely no respect for this governor,” Homan said. “Criminal aliens are walking in this state every day because of his government policy. I don’t care what the governor thinks of me. I’m not running a popularity contest.”
You have no say in this at all. Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced. https://t.co/N53UBl3UM4
Illegal Immigration in the United State via Wikimedia Commons
*This article contains graphic language*
Shocking footage…
A Haitian gang member was recorded by Fox News praising former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama as he was arrested by ICE for deportation this week.
Fox News filmed several illegal aliens being arrested by ICE in Boston this week as the agency carried out Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown just days after his inauguration.
“I’m not going back to Haiti!” one man could be heard screaming as he was arrested by ICE agents. “Fuck Trump! You feel me? Yo, Biden forever, bro! Thank Obama for everything that he did for me, bro!”
ICE told Fox News that the man in question was a gang member from Haiti with “seventeen criminal convictions in recent years.”
"I'm not going back to Haiti. F*ck Trump, Biden forever!" – Criminal alien during a deportation operation yesterday
Fox News also recorded the arrest of a Salvadorian illegal alien who had previously been “charged locally with rape,” but was quickly “released by sanctuary jurisdiction,” as well as an illegal alien from Brazil wanted for armed robbery and a Dominican illegal alien who had been charged with drug trafficking and assault with a deadly weapon.
In another moment captured by Fox News, ICE agents arrested an MS-13 gang member for gun charges, as well as his roommate, who was also found to be living in the United States illegally.
“ICE says he was released from local custody just the day before,” reported Fox News on the MS-13 gang member. “Their detainer request was ignored because of sanctuary policies.”
The Trump administration has started flying immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally out of the country using military aircraft, a White House spokesperson said Friday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared photos on the social media site X of individuals in handcuffs boarding a military plane.
Deportation flights have begun.
President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences. pic.twitter.com/CTlG8MRcY1
“Deportation flights have begun,” Leavitt said. “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.”
This week, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced ICE had made over 1,000 arrests while carrying out deportation orders.
🚨NEW: Tom Homan reveals that ICE has already made 1300 arrests during deportation operations:
“We've arrested 1300 people, over a thousand of them are criminals."
"The other ones are either fugitives who've been through immigration court, that became a fugitive, or… pic.twitter.com/wEQlGKy9QX
President Trump has ensured an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who garnered a massive online following by posting videos of him flashing stacks of cash and urging migrants to “invade” American homes and take them over under squatters’ rights laws has been deported.
Leonel Moreno, 26, told his audience he planned to make a business out of his scams.
“He has been deported,” the Trump administration announced Friday on its @RapidResponse47 X account.
In his videos, he mocked U.S. taxpayers and even other immigrants who work for a living, alternately waving stacks of hundred-dollar bills, crying, singing or posing with an infant with mucus running out of his nose.
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in Spanish, according to a translation of his videos. “I came to the U.S. to mark my territory.”
He bragged about raking in cash via TikTok as well as entitlement payments from U.S. taxpayers. He claimed that his family had received $350 a week in government handouts since entering the U.S. illegally and that at one point he was raking in as much as $1,000 a week with his viral videos.
“You’re hurt because I make more than you without much work while you work like slaves, understand?” he said in one of his videos. “That’s the difference between you and me. I’m always going to make lots of money without much work, and you’re always going to be exploited and miserable and insignificant.”
TikTok eventually shut down his account, which had amassed about 500,000 followers.
ICE picked him up after his online profile exploded, but he spent months in custody under the Biden administration.
A Canadian woman who admitted slapping a teenage girl during a confrontation over patriotic clothing at the Jersey Shore has been ordered deported after pleading guilty to a reduced assault charge.
Kaitlyn Tracey, 33, had overstayed her visa and was living in the United States illegally when the July 3 clash erupted on the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk.
An immigration judge in Texas ordered Tracey removed from the country Tuesday, shortly before she entered a guilty plea in the New Jersey criminal case.
Tracey appeared by phone from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas for the proceeding in Ocean County.
🚨 NEW: A Texas immigration judge has ordered 33-year-old Canadian national Kaitlyn Tracey deported after she pleaded guilty to assaulting a teenage girl wearing patriotic clothing on a New Jersey boardwalk. 👏🏾
Under a plea agreement, Tracey pleaded guilty to one count of simple assault.
Prosecutors dismissed the remaining charges, which included endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and obstruction.
Tracey received a one-day jail sentence with credit for time served. She had already spent several weeks in the Ocean County Jail before being transferred to federal immigration custody.
The criminal case may be over, but its consequences are not. Tracey now faces removal to Canada and is expected to be barred from legally returning to the United States for an extended period.
Patriotic Shirt Sparked Boardwalk Confrontation
The altercation unfolded on the evening of July 3, when Tracey approached a group of four teenagers at Point Pleasant Beach.
Authorities said the dispute escalated after she confronted one of the teens, who was wearing a “USA 250” tank top marking America’s approaching 250th anniversary.
Video that quickly spread across social media appeared to show Tracey slapping the girl across the face during the argument.
The footage drew national attention and prompted action from local police and federal immigration authorities.
After Tracey’s arrest, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that she had remained in the country after her visa expired. The agency later dubbed her the “Maple Leaf Menace” in public statements.
Defense Calls Clash “Unfortunate”
Defense attorney Francis Hodgson told the court that Tracey had otherwise been a productive, law-abiding resident.
“She arrived here on a passport some years ago. She met her husband and didn’t leave, but while she was here, she maintained employment and was a productive member of society,” Hodgson said.
He called the confrontation “unfortunate” and said Tracey had accepted responsibility for her actions.
“[Tracey has] taken responsibility for her role in it, and this is a reasonable judgment … consistent with other similar-type matters that happen every day during the summer on this boardwalk,” Hodgson told the court.
Victim’s Family: “Thank Goodness For Cameras”
Prosecutors said the victim’s family supported the plea agreement.
The teen’s parent attended the hearing remotely but did not speak publicly. Judge Guy P. Ryan instead read portions of the family’s victim impact statement into the record.
“The parents recite that, ‘Thank goodness for cameras and cell phones to have documented this incident,’” Ryan said.
The judge said the family came from an immigrant background and described themselves as proud Americans who had been celebrating Independence Day when the confrontation occurred.
“The notoriety and publicity of this matter has indicated that they’re proud of their country, love their country, they have core values and refer to the history of their family,” Ryan said.
He added that the victim and her parents “look forward to justice being served” and were grateful to the agencies involved in the case.
Deportation Now Looms
Following her arrest, Tracey was initially held at the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. She was later transferred to an ICE processing center in Laredo, Texas, as her immigration proceedings continued.
Officials have not announced when she will be removed to Canada.
Ryan said during sentencing that the deportation order is expected to prevent Tracey from legally returning to the United States for “a very long time.”
Husband’s Anti-Trump Posts Resurface
The case has also brought new scrutiny to Tracey’s husband, Matt Geroni, who did not attend Tuesday’s hearing.
Geroni previously posted TikTok videos criticizing conditions at Delaney Hall and asking supporters to help secure his wife’s release, even if that meant her deportation to Canada.
His own social media history later became part of the controversy. Resurfaced posts appeared to show Geroni wishing death on President Donald Trump and members of Trump’s family.
In one post, Geroni wrote that he was “praying the entire Trump family gets cancer,” including the president’s children. After an attempted assassination of Trump, he wrote in another post: “Praying the next assassination attempt works.”
Republican senators are rallying behind senior White House aide Stephen Miller as some GOP lawmakers privately grumble that his blunt style and hardline immigration messaging could complicate the party’s midterm prospects.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dismissed the idea that Miller is in trouble inside Trump’s inner circle, calling him a key architect of the administration’s aggressive border agenda.
“People can disagree with Stephen on rhetoric or policy,” Graham told The Hill, “but the question is, is he in jeopardy in Trump World? Absolutely not.”
Graham argued Republicans should stop hand-wringing over internal personality clashes and instead focus on going on offense against what he called the failures of the Biden years. He pointed to an upcoming Senate vote targeting sanctuary city policies, saying Miller played a central role in shaping the effort.
Miller’s defenders say he has been instrumental in delivering on the promises Trump made to voters — from tougher immigration enforcement to cracking down on fentanyl trafficking. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), who represents a major battleground state, credited Miller with helping advance priorities that matter to working families.
Other prominent Republicans, including Senate GOP Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), also praised Miller’s long-standing role in border security and law enforcement policy.
Still, the controversy highlights growing tension inside the Republican conference as lawmakers head into an election cycle. Some senators, including Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), have criticized Miller’s demeanor and influence, arguing the White House should broaden its circle of advisers.
The debate comes as Washington faces a looming Homeland Security funding deadline, with Democrats threatening to block extensions unless the administration agrees to restrictions on ICE operations. Democrats have also escalated calls for investigations, impeachments, and removals of Trump officials tied to immigration enforcement — part of a broader effort to portray the administration as extreme.
Miller has also drawn attention for his unapologetic stance on Greenland and U.S. strategic power in the Arctic, which critics say risks alienating allies. Supporters counter that Trump’s tougher posture has strengthened America’s defensive position and forced long-overdue conversations about national security.
For many Trump allies, the bottom line is simple: Miller remains one of the president’s most trusted advisers — and Republicans who want to win should focus less on palace intrigue and more on policy fights Democrats are increasingly out of step on.
As Graham put it, Miller is “Karl Rove to MAGA,” and anyone betting on his downfall, he suggested, doesn’t understand how Trump’s White House works.
Illegal Immigration in the United State via Wikimedia Commons
History in the making…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have reportedly come to an agreement to allow ICE to access taxpayer information to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation.
According to Fox News, the Trump administration filed a memorandum of understanding late Monday with a court to create guardrails and a process for ICE requests to the IRS to further investigations of criminal illegal immigrants who have failed or refuse to leave the United States 90 days after a judge has issued a final order of removal.
“The Internal Revenue Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a clear and secure process to support law enforcement’s efforts to combat illegal immigration,” a Treasury Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“The bases for this MOU are founded in longstanding authorities granted by Congress, which serve to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans while streamlining the ability to pursue criminals,” the statement said. “After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, President Trump’s highest priority is to ensure the safety of the American people.”
A senior Treasury Department official said the illegal immigrants have been given due process but have overstayed 90 days post a judge’s removal order.
The MOU outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer data information is protected while allowing law enforcement to pursue criminal violations, the official said.
A draft agreement reported last month by the Washington Post said it would limit ICE to confirm the addresses of illegal immigrants who have final removal orders.
The deal would allow ICE to submit the names and addresses of illegal immigrants to the IRS, who could then cross-check those immigrants’ tax records and provide the immigration agency with current address information.
The significant step forward comes amid the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had earlier mandated the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return by midnight, emphasizing that his deportation was an “administrative error.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged the mistake but argued that the court’s injunction was “patently unlawful,” asserting that the government lacks the authority to retrieve him from El Salvador.
