The Trump administration is taking border security to the next level.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made an announcement that left Democrats reeling.

And Kristi Noem just approved one shocking plan that has environmentalists seething.

Federal government green-lights “Alligator Alcatraz”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that the federal government will fund Florida’s effort to build immigration detention centers, including a proposed site in the Everglades that state officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Noem said the detention facilities in Florida will be funded “in large part” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s shelter and services program, an initiative created by Congress to support groups and cities receiving migrants and asylum-seekers released from federal custody along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” Noem said in a statement to CBS News.

The plan represents a complete reversal from how the Biden-Harris administration used taxpayer money to coddle illegal aliens instead of protecting American communities.

Florida Attorney General unveils “one-stop shop” for deportations

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier pitched the proposal for a 1,000-bed facility as “the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.” It would be positioned on a “virtually abandoned” airstrip surrounded by wetlands.

“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons,” Uthmeier said in an announcement video. “Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.”

The airstrip Uthmeier mentioned is the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, which is owned by Miami-Dade County and sits about 36 miles west of the Miami business district.

The runway was part of the Everglades Jetport project, which aimed to build a massive airport that would serve South Florida and the Gulf coast.

Construction ultimately was halted during the 1970s amid environmental concerns.

Construction of “Alligator Alcatraz” began Monday according to multiple reports, with plans to have the facility operational by the first week of July.

Uthmeier announced Monday that the federal government has approved the state’s plan to build “Alligator Alcatraz” and other facilities that could collectively house as many as 5,000 detainees across multiple sites, with the Everglades facility expected to be operational by early July.

Democrats and environmentalists lose their minds

The announcement has triggered a predictable meltdown from the usual suspects who would rather protect alligators than American families.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, wrote to Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, saying “the impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating.”

She added that the county had previously negotiated with the state for the possible sale of the site to support conservation efforts.

Environmental groups have organized protests against the plan, with some calling it “damaging” and “extremely dangerous.”

Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said the group was founded to oppose construction on the very same spot in 1969 when it was supposed to house the Everglades Jetport.

But critics are missing the point entirely.

This isn’t about harming the environment – it’s about using America’s natural resources to protect American communities from criminal illegal aliens who have no business being in this country.

Trump administration delivers on deportation promise

The facility supplements what Trump officials have said is limited capacity at detention centers around the country, as the White House continues to push authorities to make at least 3,000 immigration-related arrests per day.

The National Guard will also be on site to help run the facility, according to Uthmeier, who said he met with Trump administration border czar Tom Homan on Sunday.

The attorney general promised fair legal proceedings for detainees held at the facility, telling conservative commentator Benny Johnson, “We’ll give them the due process that all these courts say they need.”

According to reports, the facility will cost approximately $450 million annually to operate, funded through FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program.

The contrast with the Biden-Harris administration couldn’t be starker.

While the previous administration used FEMA money to house illegal aliens in luxury hotels and provide them with taxpayer-funded benefits, the Trump administration is using those same funds to ensure criminal aliens are detained and deported.

Meanwhile, immigration arrests are surging across Central Florida.

In all of 2024, Orange County booked about 800 people on detainers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement into its jail. By the end of May, the 2025 count had already hit 1,314.

This represents exactly what Americans voted for in November – a president who takes border security seriously and uses every tool at his disposal to protect American communities.

The environmental groups and Democrat politicians can complain all they want, but President Trump has a mandate to secure the border and remove dangerous criminal aliens from American streets.

“Alligator Alcatraz” is just the beginning of what promises to be the most effective deportation operation in American history.

And if the alligators and pythons help keep these facilities secure while saving taxpayer money, that’s just smart government.