The Young GOPer Behind “Alligator Alcatraz” Is the Dark Future of MAGA
James Uthmeier is the real brains behind this notorious migrant detention camp in the Everglades. The more barbarities that emerge, the brighter his star will no doubt shine.
The other day, Stephen Miller went on Fox News and offered a plea that got surprisingly little attention given its highly toxic and unnerving implications. Miller urged politicians in GOP-run states to build their own versions of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state-run immigration detention facility that officials just opened in the Florida Everglades.
“We want every governor of a red state, and if you are watching tonight: pick up the phone, call DHS, work with us to build facilities in your state,” Miller said, in a reference to the Department of Homeland Security. Critically, Miller added, such states could then work with the federal government by supplying much-needed detention beds, helping President Trump “get the illegals out.”
Keep all that in mind as we introduce you to one James Uthmeier.
Uthmeier, the attorney general of Florida and a longtime ally of Governor Ron DeSantis, is widely described in the state as the brains behind “Alligator Alcatraz.” Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics, sums him up this way: “In Uthmeier, DeSantis found his own Stephen Miller.”
Uthmeier is indeed a homegrown Florida version of Miller: Only 37 years old, he brings great precociousness to the jailing of migrants. Like Miller, he is obscure and little-known relative to the influence he’s amassing. Also like Miller, he is fluent in MAGA’s reliance on the spectacle of inhumanity and barbarism.
“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” Uthmeier said of “Alligator Alcatraz” in a slick video he recently narrated about the complex, which featured heavy-metal guitar riffs right out of a combat-cosplay video game. “People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Any migrant who dares escape just might get devoured alive by an animal—one animal eating another. Dehumanization is so thrilling!
The real-world “Alligator Alcatraz” is already gaining notoriety for its very real cruelties. After Democratic lawmakers visited over the weekend, they sharply denounced the scenes they’d witnessed of migrants packed into cages under inhumane conditions. Meanwhile, detainees and family members have sounded alarms about worm-infested food and blistering heat. And the Miami Heraldreports that an unnervingly large percentage of the detainees lack criminal convictions.
But Uthmeier is getting feted on Fox News and other right wing media for this new experiment in spite of such notorieties—or perhaps because of them. There’s good reason to think more red state politicians will seek to create their own versions of “Alligator Alcatraz” or get in on this action in other ways—and that more young Republican politicians will see it as a path to MAGA renown and glory.
For one thing, the money is now there. Buried in the big budget bill that Trump recently signed is a little-noticed provision that immigration advocates increasingly fear could fund more complexes like this one. It makes $3.5 billion available to “eligible states” and their agencies for numerous immigration-related purposes, including the “temporary detention of aliens.”
When Miller told GOP politicians to follow Uthmeier by collaborating with federal officials to develop new versions of “Alligator Alcatraz,” he was probably talking about this slush fund. State officials can try to tap into it for building out such facilities. “For Republican states across the country that want to copy the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ model, this bill will give them that money,” immigration analyst Austin Kocher tells me.
What’s more, red state politicians are paying attention. Fox News contacted numerous gubernatorial offices to ask if they intend to take up Miller’s invitation. The responses were positive, with many eagerly touting plans for detention complexes. While it’s unclear if these will resemble “Alligator Alcatraz,” the underlying impulse is clear: Many red states want to expand state-run detention efforts. And again: The money is there.
This is a bad development. “Alligator Alcatraz” should not be the model for the future of migrant detention in much of the United States.
Here’s why. The facility is funded and operated by the state of Florida, but the state can use it to detain undocumented people under a federal program that allows ICE to authorize local law enforcement to carry out immigration crackdowns. That puts “Alligator Alcatraz” in a grey area: Local law enforcement agencies are using it to carry out Trump’s immigration detention agenda even as ICE does not run the facility.
Lauren-Brooke Eisen of the Brennan Center, who specializes in criminal justice, points to a toxic combination built into the idea of more versions of this arrangement. ICE detention is subject to federal oversight. But huge influxes of federal money for migrant detention—as in Trump’s new bill—could create new incentives for states to ramp up their own detention efforts. Yet because “Alligator Alcatraz” is a new experiment, she says, it’s unclear what sort of federal oversight future imitation efforts would receive, even if they get some federal money.
“What will access to counsel look like for detainees?” Eisen asks. “What will access to family members look like? It’s difficult to imagine state-run facilities where conditions and due process are prioritized.”
Illustrating the point, when a reporter recently asked ICE for comment on what’s going on inside “Alligator Alcatraz,” ICE said, well, it isn’t their facility. In other words, the federal government is not responsible for what happens inside those walls—even as Miller and Trump call on other states to build more of them.
Which brings us back to Uthmeier and the future of MAGA.
It’s easy to see Uthmeier and his “Alligator Alcatraz” becoming a model for other young Republicans seeking a route into MAGA celebrity. Consider his career trajectory: It’s fairly conventional establishment-Republican stuff. A native of Destin, a small beach city in the deep red Florida panhandle, he earned a law degree from Georgetown and then worked for the Commerce Department in the first Trump administration—and then for the ultra-establishment D.C. law firm Jones Day.
Uthmeier has also made appearances at the conservative Federalist Ssociety, which is as establishment-conservative as it gets. He joined DeSantis’s first administration as a senior legal adviser, and then got appointed as attorney general when the slot was vacated by the appointment of former AG Ashley Moody to now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Senate seat.
All in all, it’s in some ways a conventional path to GOP success. In fact, Uthmeier actually has a track record of criticizing Trump in the past on things like Covid-19 and abortion. But J.D. Vance survived such heresies, and now, in the party that Trump remade, Uthmeier apparently recognizes that “Alligator Alcatraz” is his big ticket. It’s a reminder that in today’s GOP, the MAGA and older-line Republican establishments are bleeding into one another—and that getting attached to such an idea is a path to national MAGA stardom.
Put another way, in the cut-throat world of the MAGA attention economy, association with things like “Alligator Alcatraz” can carry enormous weight. It’s hard for people who don’t swim in MAGA’s rancid information currents to grasp, but when Trump recently toured the facility with DeSantis, it was a huge MAGA propaganda coup for the Florida governor (yes, he apparently still harbors national ambitions).
Indeed, one person who very much noticed this was apparently Uthmeier himself. According to one Florida operative in touch with Uthmeier’s staff, there’s considerable sensitivity in his inner circle over who is getting credit for “Alligator Alcatraz,” with some worrying that Uthmeier isn’t reaping enough of it.
Uthmeier needn’t worry, however. When Trump toured the facility, he said of Uthmeier: “That guy’s got a future.” In this, the MAGA God King himself gave a big boost to Uthmeier’s 2026 electoral bid to keep his appointed AG role, which will be a platform for even higher ambitions. And if more barbarities emerge from “Alligator Alcatraz,” as they surely will, his MAGA future will only get that much brighter.
Immigrants without criminal backgrounds have been among the fastest-growing groups of ICE detainees. Less than a third of ICE detainees, 28.5%, are convicted criminals, according to the data. Another quarter have pending criminal charges and the rest have no criminal histories.
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Immigrants being detained in federal holding rooms in Lower Manhattan have complained of being unable to bathe or change clothes, cramped conditions, sometimes being provided just one meal a day, and sleeping on concrete benches or the floor.
Some immigrants staying at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza also report stays lasting days at a time — as many as 10 days in one case referenced in a court filing.
“ There’s no room to sit down – standing room only,” said Rebecca Rubin, an immigration attorney for the New York Legal Assistance Group, who has had at least three clients detained in the cells.
The allegations came in court papers filed by lawyers representing immigrants held at the Lower Manhattan facility and in interviews with immigrants who said they were detained there.
Congressmembers, who for weeks have been refused entry at the site on the ground that the facilities are not “detention centers” but rather off-limits “processing centers,” have also raised concerns.
“Do not go treating people subhumanly — treating immigrants, simply because they are not born here — as if they are second class, as if they are not human,” Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, told reporters Tuesday in a press conference outside the facility. “That is not what this country’s about.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a statement, dismissed the complaints in their entirety: “Any claim that there is overcrowding or subprime conditions is categorically false. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”
She added: “As we arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding.”
In a previous statement, McLaughlin said, “26 Federal Plaza is not a detention center. It is a Federal building with an ICE law enforcement office inside of it.”
The holding areas are guarded rooms on the 10th floor of the federal government office building, just steps away from state and federal courthouses and City Hall. Those being detained include immigrants taken into custody after immigration court hearings in the same building.
The rooms used to be temporary holding areas where immigrant detainees were held for a few hours before being transferred to larger, more permanent and resourced detention centers, according to local immigration attorneys. But the lawyers said in recent months, detainees have been sleeping overnight in overcrowded facilities, some for days.
“In the past… it was sort of understood that (detainees) weren’t going to be spending any sort of meaningful time there,” said Harold Solis, co-legal director of Make the Road New York, the local chapter of the national immigrants’ rights advocacy group. “This is definitely a different reality that people are experiencing there.”
S. Michael Musa-Obregon, a New York-based immigration attorney, added, “It used to be a holding pen, like a central booking. Now it’s becoming a temporary jail.”
Several members of New York’s congressional delegation, including Reps. Nydia Velázquez, Adriano Espaillat, Jerry Nadler and Goldman, all Democrats, have tried in recent weeks to inspect the holding areas but were denied entry.
Federal law allows lawmakers to inspect detention facilities, with no notice needed. But in a conversation with Nadler and Goldman, ICE Deputy Field Office Director William Joyce said the site was a temporary “processing center,” not a detention facility and not subject to inspection.
In the June 18 exchange with the two lawmakers, recorded by Gothamist in a hallway at 26 Federal Plaza, Joyce said the holding areas were “approaching capacity.”
He added that detainees were being held overnight, but that claims of migrants staying for a week or more were “an exaggeration.”
‘These conditions are inhumane’
Immigration lawyers contend, based on ICE’s public detainee tracking system, that a detainee named Joselyn Chipantiza-Sisalema had been detained inside the facility for 10 days.
Make the Road NY filed a lawsuit on July 3 against the federal government, advocating for her release.
Lawyers for Chipantiza-Sisalema, a 20-year-old high school student, wrote in a court filing, “She has told her parents that her conditions of confinement are extremely distressing: she is sleeping on the floor, she is in the same clothes she was detained in and the food she is provided is inadequate.”
Chipantiza-Sisalema wasn’t allowed to call or visit with a lawyer, she wasn’t allowed to call anyone but her parents and she had spoken with her family only three times, for a minute each time, according to the court filing.
Chipantiza-Sisalema was transferred to another detention facility on Friday, according to Solis.
“These conditions are inhumane as individuals detained do not have access to beds, regular meals, or communication with loved ones or counsel,” lawyers wrote in Chipantiza-Sisalema’s case. “Detainees also report that they are not able to bathe or change clothes; that the temperature can be extremely hot or cold; and that medical care is not provided.”
Another detainee, Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old high school student, was fed one to two meals a day and “forced to sleep sitting up for lack of space,” his attorneys wrote in a lawsuit demanding his release from ICE detention. Toaquiza was held for two days in a small room with over 60 people, according to the filing.
“The room was so crowded that he could not lie down and he had to sleep sitting up,” the filing said.
Enrique, 52-year-old former detainee from Peru who asked not to share his last name for fear of retaliation against his family still living in the United States, said he slept in a holding cell at 26 Federal Plaza for six days in late June.
Enrique said that when he first entered the roughly 5 by 10 meter room, there were about 30 people. Guards gave him an aluminum blanket to stay warm.
By the time he was transferred to another detention center, six days later, he said there were 100 people and not enough blankets to go around.
“We were on top of each other,” Massamba Gueye, a 29-year-old detainee from Senegal, told Gothamist. He said he was detained with about 30 men in a room for one night in early June. Gueye said while he was there, another man fainted, hit his head and started bleeding — but guards didn’t respond.
“Nobody was bothered to even try to help him,” Gueye, who has since been transferred to another ICE facility, said in a phone interview.
‘They’re killing us. My liver is killing me.’
Immigrants detained at 26 Federal Plaza and their relatives also complain about lack of medical care.
Samara Simone de la Cruz Gooden, 22, said her husband Joan Paul Alcivar de la Cruz, a 27-year-old from Ecuador, was detained at 26 Federal Plaza for at least four to five days in late June. Gooden said most of her husband’s liver had been removed before his detention and he requires a special diet, which he didn’t receive while staying in the holding cell.
“He broke down,” Gooden said. “He was like, ‘They’re killing us. My liver is killing me. I’m pooping out a lot of blood. I’m so scared.’”
De la Cruz didn’t receive any medical help while he was detained at 26 Federal Plaza, Gooden said. Eventually, he was rushed to the hospital, she said, where she wasn’t allowed to speak with him.
De la Cruz was eventually transferred to a facility in Louisiana, where he is currently being held. Attorneys at the New York Legal Assistance Group have filed a lawsuit advocating for his release.
Concerns have arisen about ICE detaining immigrants for days in short-term holding facilities elsewhere across the country.
A lawsuit filed last week in California claims that ICE is holding immigrants in another “processing center” in a basement in downtown Los Angeles — in what the lawsuit describes as “dungeon-like facilities,” with overcrowded, windowless rooms holding dozens of detainees.
Some rooms are so cramped that detainees can’t sit or lie down for hours at a time, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit also alleges that detainees lack necessary food, medical care and access to legal counsel. New York Attorney General Letitia James and attorneys general for 17 states filed a brief in support of that lawsuit.
More detention space is coming
On Tuesday, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Goldman observed immigration court hearings and arrests inside 26 Federal Plaza.
While speaking to members of the press outside afterward, Goldman shared testimonies of migrants he said had been detained inside, who complained of overcrowded conditions and insufficient food and water.
Lander and Williams urged New Yorkers and elected officials to visit the building and observe immigration court hearings and subsequent ICE arrests. Lander was arrested last month while escorting a man away from his immigration court hearing.
Under President Donald Trump, ICE has ramped up immigration arrests, while at once contending with a shortage of detention space. As of the end of June, nearly 58,000 people were being held in ICE detention centers, according to the latest agency data — far exceeding ICE’s current detention capacity of 41,000 beds.
Immigrants without criminal backgrounds have been among the fastest-growing groups of ICE detainees. Less than a third of ICE detainees, 28.5%, are convicted criminals, according to the data. Another quarter have pending criminal charges and the rest have no criminal histories.
Trump’s signature “big, beautiful” domestic policy bill, recently signed into law, includes about $170 billion to support the administration’s immigration crackdown. That includes about $45 billion for immigration detention centers, which the American Immigration Council estimates will allow ICE to expand its detention capacity to 116,000 beds.
Jessica Gould contributed reporting.
This story was updated with comment from the Department of Homeland Security.
There is a video at the link below. I watched this. ICE went in to terrorize and prove they could. They had a military style attack helicopter. This is going to get worse. They are the tRump admin Gestapo, armed thugs who follow no rules attacking people who have violated no criminal laws. Even if they were undocumented they had broken no laws as crossing the border illegally is a civil offense like speeding. Hugs
Border Czar Tom Homan on Friday angrily condemned the violence at a California pot farm as proof anti-ICE protests will turn deadly, blaming the inflammatory rhetoric of Democrats comparing agents to Nazis.
Homan spoke out the morning after protesters were seen hurling rocks — and one even appeared to fire a gun — at agents stamping down on a massive marijuana operation where they found 10 illegal-migrant juveniles, eight of whom were there without an adult.
“What happened in California is just another example of protesters becoming criminals, and they’ve been emboldened by even members of Congress who compare ICE to Nazis and racists and terrorists,” Homan said on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.
A protester flees as ICE officers fire chemical agents into the crowd during a raid in Camarillo, California.AFP via Getty Images
“I said months ago, it’s going to end up with a loss of life — and we had one the other day in Texas, and it’s not over,” he said, referencing the gunman who opened fire on border patrol agents walking into work in McAllen Monday.
Immigration agents who descended on Glass House Farms in the city of Camarillo — one of the biggest cannabis farms in Southern California — were met by dozens of demonstrators gathered on a road between fields where the uniformed officers stood in a line across from them.
A military-style helicopter flew overhead, video shows.
Tear gas billows from canisters thrown by federal agents toward protesters in Camarillo, California.via REUTERS
Protesters shouted and screeched until agents used canisters with an unknown substance and fired less-than-lethal rounds, forcing them to retreat. Several of the protesters threw what appeared to be rocks back at the officers, according to ABC 7.
As they retreated, a masked man in all black appeared to let off a few shots among a crowd of other protesters scampering away from advancing agents.
The FBI has now launched an investigation into the alleged shooting and is offering a reward up to $50,000 for information leading to a conviction.
An individual was spotted allegedly firing a weapon toward federal agents.ABC 7
The clash lasted four hours as US Customs and Border Protection set up a blockade with military-style vehicles in the pastoral region.
Video from ABC 7 shows numerous workers being taken into custody at the scene. It’s unclear exactly how many were detained.
Five people were taken to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The farm is now under investigation for child labor violations, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott announced late Thursday night after 10 juveniles — “all illegal aliens” — were found at the facility, including eight without an adult, he said.
Protesters stand in front of ICE agents near a pot farm in Camarillo, California.Getty Images
Glass House Farms said it “fully complied with agent search warrants.”
The stand-off drew widespread criticism from California leaders, including U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal, who was denied entry when he tried to get past federal agents into the farm.
Newsom’s office accused President Trump’s advisor, Stephen Miller, of sparking “terror” in local communities.
A protester washes eye with milk after federal immigration agents tossed tear gas during a raid in Camarillo, California.AP
“There’s a real cost to these inhumane immigration actions on hardworking families and communities, including farmworker communities, across America,” Newsom’s office said.
“Instead of supporting the businesses and workers that drive our economy and way of life, Stephen Miller’s tactics evoke chaos, fear and terror within our communities at every turn.”
Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura, arrested last week in Miami-Dade on assault charges, was transferred to South Florida’s new immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades, the singer confirmed in a phone call.
He and other detainees claim they are enduring inhumane conditions at the site, including lack of access to water, inadequate food and denial of religious rights.
Alligator Alcatraz was built in a matter of days on a rarely used municipal airport located about 50 miles west of the City of Miami. The first group of detainees arrived at the center on July 3, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier.
La Figura, whose real name is Leamsy Isquierdo, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery. He was initially held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK) before being transferred to Alligator Alcatraz.
“There’s no water to take a bath”
In a phone call from inside the facility, La Figura described what he called horrific conditions.
“I am Leamsy La Figura. We’ve been here at Alcatraz since Friday. There’s over 400 people here. There’s no water to take a bath, it’s been four days since I’ve taken a bath,” he said.
He claimed the food at the immigration facility is scarce and unsanitary.
“They only brought a meal once a day and it had maggots. They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants,” La Figura said.
Detainees say rights are being violated
Other detainees echoed La Figura’s concerns, alleging violations of their basic rights.
“They’re not respecting our human rights,” one man said during the same call. “We’re human beings; we’re not dogs. We’re like rats in an experiment.”
“I don’t know their motive for doing this, if it’s a form of torture. A lot of us have our residency documents and we don’t understand why we’re here,” he added.
A third detainee, who said he is Colombian, described deteriorating mental health and lack of access to necessary medical care.
“I’m on the edge of losing my mind. I’ve gone three days without taking my medicine,” he said. “It’s impossible to sleep with this white light that’s on all day.”
He also claimed his Bible was confiscated.
“They took the Bible I had and they said here there is no right to religion. And my Bible is the one thing that keeps my faith, and now I’m losing my faith,” he said.
La Figura’s girlfriend said the couple shares a 4-year-old daughter.
Florida officials respond to inhumane conditions allegations
On Tuesday, state officials responded to the allegations made by detainees at the facility, saying they are “completely false.”
“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
FDEM was the engine behind Alligator Alcatraz, using the state’s emergency management tools and funding to build, staff and operate the detention facility.
An especially brutal incident occurred at an SF immigration courthouse Tuesday morning, as protesters attempted to block an ICE SUV that was apparently transporting an arrested immigrant, and the SUV simply plowed its way through the demonstrators.
After Monday’s ICE military-style sweep through a near-empty park in Los Angeles, we wondered this morning if this was a harbinger of things to come. It did not take long to get an answer.
The incident happened at about 11:15 am Tuesday morning at SF Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery Street, where some 20 protesters were attempting to block the transport of an apparent immigrant in custody who was thrown into a black SUV. The SUV drove through the group of protesters, and per Mission Local, federal officers also “pointed their rifles, deployed pepper spray, and shoved people to the ground.”
Warning: The video of this incident contains substantial profanity.
These events are captured in the video above from Mission Local. It begins as your typical SF protest scene, with demonstrators trying to blockade and prevent ICE agents from getting inside the building. There is much skirmishing and shouting between the ICE agents and the protesters, with agents using batons to keep the protesters at bay. Around the 1:14 mark it appears that agents do get their suspect out of the building and into the SUV, at which point, some eight to ten protesters attempt to block the SUV.
The SUV starts inching forward, slowly at first, often stopping as agents try to pull the protesters off the front of the vehicle. Once many of the protesters are off, the vehicle picks up speed. Only one protester still clings to the front of the SUV, and then it really picks up speed. The protester flies off the hood, fellow demonstrators come to aid that person, and there’s another unsuccessful attempt to block the vehicle the next block up, before it speeds away.
The SF Standard has their own video of the incident, albeit from several stories above, seemingly from a Financial District office window.
Bar Association of San Francisco immigration attorney Milli Atkinson confirmed to Mission Local that one immigrant was arrested and detained during the incident. So that is disturbing.
But most disturbingly, have you ever seen such a high percentage of law enforcement officers with their faces covered in masks, with no badges or identifying information, and mostly not wearing anything (other than their vests) that resembles a legitimate uniform? If these are all indeed sworn ICE officers, there seems to be a paramilitary push toward concealing their identities, and some strangely loose new decorum in their uniform standards under the Trump administration.
Mission Local adds that one demonstrator was pepper-sprayed at Market and Montgomery streets, though was then restrained by other agents. One demonstrator reportedly yelled at him, “Your parents were immigrants, asshole.” That site also adds that another ICE agent (or someone appearing to be one) “pointed a matte black rifle at protestors and press, including this reporter,” and that “An SFPD officer stood by and watched from a distance.”
In their own writeup of the incident, the SF Standard spoke to the protester who appears to be the person who held on to the moving SUV’s hood long enough to be jostled off. “I was bleeding everywhere,” said that person, identifying herself only as Sorin. “They were brutal to those of us trying to exercise our rights and protect our community.”
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