Alligator Alcatraz, the state's brand-new detention facility that will soon hold thousands of migrants deep in the swampy Everglades, is already doing what critics warned it would do — flood.
On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and their Republican cronies officially unveiled the makeshift tent city at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a little-used airstrip located in the middle of the Everglades. Florida's emergency management department hastily constructed the site, which officials claim will hold more than 3,000 people, in just days. The site is poised to start receiving migrants imminently.
"Very soon, this facility will house some of the most treacherous people on the planet," Trump said.
But as Trump's allies gathered at the controversial site yesterday, grinning for photos inside one of the large tents like some MAGA gala, Florida began to do what it does best during the summer: rain.
Just hours after Florida's top emergency chief boasted the state had a hurricane plan for the facility, and that it was ready to withstand the 110 mph winds of a "high-end" Category 2 hurricane, rain began seeping through the edges of the massive white tent, its roofs and walls trembling as the summer storm rolled in.
Videos posted on social media show the water spreading under poles hoisting the Florida and U.S. flags and reaching electrical cables on the ground.A good lil storm passed over us here at 'Alligator Alcatraz.’
— Jason Delgado (@JasonDelgadoX) July 1, 2025
Here's what it looks & sounds like inside one of these tents.
The state says the sites here are rated to withstand a category two hurricane (~120mph winds). pic.twitter.com/6SyY1hAvkK
"For those people that don't think we're taking that into consideration. This is Florida, by the way," Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said to reporters earlier amid Trump's visit. "We have a hurricane plan."
Earlier in the day, Guthrie told reporters that the state has a hurricane plan for the facility, which is prone to deep flooding even outside of hurricane season, according to a recent appraisal of the Miami-Dade County-owned site.
Guthrie said the facility would 'follow our normal evacuation procedures as we do for any other facility statewide."
"(This) has been a perfect state logistics exercise for this hurricane season," Guthrie said. "Everything we did here in the last eight days, God forbid, if we have a hurricane, we're going to do it again. This was a dress rehearsal for us."@annaforflorida Flooding already happening at the Trump/DeSantis interment camp in the Everglades that is costing us more then $450M. Not only is this an environmental disaster but it is inhumane & not even close to being safe!
♬ original sound - annaforflorida
This July 4th weekend, as Alligator Alcatraz officially begins operations, South Florida is expected to see thunderstorms and the usual summer downpours.
Whether the site will make it through the holiday weekend remains unclear.
Editor's note: While you're here, we thought we'd share the cover of this week's print issue, featuring an illustration by Tom Carlson:
