Refugee/Migrant Crisis

[petros]

Florida pitches 'Alligator Alcatraz' to detain illegal immigrants
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Jun 20, 2025 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 2 minute read

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has proposed that a new detention centre be built in his state to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they carry out mass deportation efforts under the Trump administration.


The Republican posted a video on X showcasing a large swath of land — 39 square miles — owned by Miami-Dade County.


The “virtually abandoned airport facility” also happens to be in the middle of the Everglades, surrounded by alligators and pythons — hence, why Uthmeier has dubbed the potential space “Alligator Alcatraz.”

He noted on the video that it would have the capacity to “house as many as 1,000 criminal aliens,” and it could be up and running within as little as 30 to 60 days.

“Florida’s been leading on immigration enforcement, supporting the Trump administration and ICE’s efforts to detain and deport criminal aliens,” the AG said in the clip.

“The government tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities,” he continued.

“I think this is the best one. As I call it, Alligator Alcatraz.”



Uthmeier boasted the the massive plot of land offers an “efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” which has alligators and pythons “waiting” for anyone who manages to escape.

“Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” he added.

Uthmeier concluded: “Alligator alcatraz, we’re ready to go.”

While many supported the idea, calling it “fantastic” and a “great solution,” others questioned who would pay for it and who would eat the cost for housing them.


ICE migrant detention centres are currently overwhelmed with about 53,000 illegal immigrants under the Trump administration’s latest push — far beyond what is funded by Congress.


The agency is blowing through its budget, with ICE $1 billion over budget, Axios reported.

It’s unknown what the White House thinks of Alligator Alcatraz but it appears the Department of Homeland Security in on board with the offer, reposting Uthmeier’s video on X.



“ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ,” the department wrote, before noting the delegation of certain immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement agencies by ICE.

“Under 287g authority, state and local law enforcement can now assist with immigration functions, including: arrests, transportation, and detention. 287g is a force multiplier in completing the President’s mission and making America safe again.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1935775425243808156

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1935741644101374271

‘NOWHERE TO RUN’: Florida pitches 'Alligator Alcatraz' to detain illegal immigrants

Florida's AG proposed that a new detention centre be built in his state to assist ICE as they carry out mass deportation efforts.

torontosun.com

PEI should get in on this.

 

[spaminator]

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Kate Payne
Published Jun 26, 2025 • 2 minute read

062625-New-Detention-Center-Alligator-Alcatraz
This image grab from video shows activity at an immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" located at an isolated Everglades airfield. (WSVN via AP) AP
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.


A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the county-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami.


A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.

Indigenous leaders who can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years dispute that — and they’re condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed ” Alligator Alcatraz ” on their homelands.


For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.


“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”

Critics have condemned the facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.

062625-Florida-Alcatraz-Things-to-Know
In this image from undated video released by the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier shows an isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles (72 kms.) west of Miami that Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is just days away from being operational. (Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier via AP) AP
Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”

“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.

“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

torontosun.com

 

[pgs]

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Kate Payne
Published Jun 26, 2025 • 2 minute read

062625-New-Detention-Center-Alligator-Alcatraz
This image grab from video shows activity at an immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" located at an isolated Everglades airfield. (WSVN via AP) AP
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.


A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the county-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of downtown Miami.


A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.

Indigenous leaders who can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years dispute that — and they’re condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed ” Alligator Alcatraz ” on their homelands.


For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.


“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”

Critics have condemned the facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.

062625-Florida-Alcatraz-Things-to-Know
In this image from undated video released by the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier shows an isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles (72 kms.) west of Miami that Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is just days away from being operational. (Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier via AP) AP
Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”

“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.

“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.

Native leaders blast construction of Florida’s ’Alligator Alcatraz’ on land they call sacred

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

torontosun.com

They got moved from Oklahoma to sacred ground .

 

[spaminator]

Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada
Reluctance to deport, IRCC caseworkers pressured to maintain low rejection rates, makes Canada an appealing target for foreign agents, Secure Canada says

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Jul 02, 2025 • Last updated 15 hours ago • 2 minute read

Reluctance to deport, IRCC caseworkers pressured to maintain low rejection rates, makes Canada an appealing target for foreign agents
Protestors carry Iranian national flags and posters of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting anti U.S. and Israel slogans, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
OTTAWA — Canada needs real and rigorous reform of its immigration bureaucracy to deal with agents of the Iranian regime, urges a Canadian terror watchdog.


In a statement posted online this week by the Council for a Secure Canada, the organization highlighted the threat posed by infiltration of Iranian officials, and how ill-equipped Canada is to deal with them.


While the real numbers of active Iranian agents attempting to enter or already working within Canada isn’t known, a Secure Canada spokesperson told The Toronto Sun that Canada’s ineffective immigration oversight makes us a tempting target for infiltration.

“Considering the fact they figured out that Canada has a very lax vetting system, doesn’t take national security particularly seriously — at least in the past decade — I would say, or just over, and there’s a very established Iranian diaspora,” they said.

Recent news reports, however, suggest Iran has as many as 700 agents at work in Canada, with the possibility of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members fleeing here as the Iranian regime becomes less stable.



The Sun spoke with numerous Iranian-Canadians who’ve said they — and their families back home — are under constant threat based on what they say in public or to the media about Iran’s despotic government.

“(Agents) have deep ties to Hezbollah, they have ties to other expat communities that share the Shia access and an ideological worldview,” Secure Canada said.

“Combined with lax vetting standards and a reluctance to deport, and the difficulty with which the system takes even really good cases for deportation — where agents work for over a year to build a very clear case — and the way the system can be gamed by people with deep pockets, and even people without particularly deep pockets.”


This reluctance to deport is baked into the institutional culture of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC,), Secure Canada claimed — with sources and internal investigations suggesting career advancement for immigration caseworkers is based on keeping rejection rates low.


“The mantra (within IRCC) is ‘admit, admit, admit,'” they said.

“It’s that complex of wanting to appear PC in every step of the process.”

Automation of the immigration process also feeds into the issue, they said, saying that the chances of a human immigration agent getting a chance to thoroughly examine applications is becoming less and less common.

“There has to be a true review of what kind of system Canadians deserve, and what kind of system will allow us to retain a social fabric that is acceptable — we’ve seen in the past 2 1/2 years, especially since (Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel),” the spokesperson said.

“There’s a sense that this country is changing, in some ways that are not positive — in terms of its public conversation, in terms of normalization of certain kinds of violent rhetoric, foiled terror plots and things like that.

“There has to be a pause.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1938671534291238941

Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada

Reluctance to deport, IRCC caseworkers pressured to maintain low rejection rates, makes Canada an appealing target for foreign agents

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada

Which begs the question. . . why the hell would anybody want to infiltrate Canada?

 

[petros]

Which begs the question. . . why the hell would anybody want to infiltrate Canada?

Free firewood.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Free firewood.

Makes sense. Parts of Iran, contrary to popular belief, get quite cold in winter.

 

[petros]

Makes sense. Parts of Iran, contrary to popular belief, get quite cold in winter.

Good skiin̈g there.

 

[spaminator]

Canada's immigration system must put national security ahead of applicants: Expert
"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Jul 04, 2025 • 3 minute read

"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas
"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas.
OTTAWA — Canada’s immigration framework needs to put national security ahead of the interests of applicants.


That’s among many issues experts say need to change as Canada wrestles with what they say is decades of ineffective and damaging immigration policy, as the country deals with increased global security threats from bad actors.


“We need to get back to a system that’s sane, we need to get back to a system that’s secure,” Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas, of Karas Immigration Law, told the Toronto Sun.

“Security for Canadians and Canadian residents should be the first priority, not the last priority. Security should be first and the applicant’s application should be second.”

As Iran’s Islamic theocratic regime staggers under Israeli and American attempts to dismantle the terror state’s nuclear weapons program, reports of officials and members of the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) taking refuge in Canada are growing.


In addition, concerns are also being raised over properly screening thousands of Palestinian refugees expected to stream into Canada, and if they hold undisclosed links to Palestinian terror groups like Hamas and the far-left Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — the mother organization of Canadian terror group Samidoun.

Karas pointed to the case of Palestinian terrorist Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, who took part in the deadly 1968 hijacking of an El Al airliner in Athens.

Convicted and imprisoned in Greece, he was soon freed after a different Palestinian terror group hijacked another plane and threatened to kill everyone on board if Mohammad wasn’t released.

Mohammed immigrated to Canada in 1987, without disclosing his criminal history and ties to Palestinian terrorism.


After his lies were discovered, he filed a refugee claim before deportation proceedings could commence — sparking a nearly 25-year legal battle to stay in Canada, insisting he wasn’t a terrorist but a “freedom fighter” in battle with Israel.

Mohammad was finally deported in 2011, with observers describing his case as indicative of everything that’s wrong with Canada’s immigration system.

Karas said that with the Iran threat looming, the time has come for Canada to finally start taking the problem seriously.

“This is extremely concerning right now, because we have an Iranian community that by and large opposes the current regime,” he said, pointing out IRGC’s close ties to Islamic terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.


“They are the primary targets of these IRGC agents and mullah sympathizers.”

Karas recalled the system being taxed in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, as well as conflicts in former Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka.

“They were all going through CSIS interviews, and applications sometimes were stuck for three or four years in Moscow and Kyiv because there were concerned that a lot of these newly-minted multi-millionaires were corrupt or part of organized crime,” he said.

“But now it seems the security apparatus is stretched so thin that they just can’t keep up … it doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence in the ability of the government of Canada to vet people.”

Karas said Canada’s immigration bureaucracy has grown far too big, causing the government to do some dangerous corner-cutting.

“During the Trudeau years, the federal government created a lot of temporary programs that increase the pressure on the system,” he said.

“Canada should concentrate on increasing security and vetting people properly, because we live in a different environment now.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

Canada's immigration system must put national security ahead of applicants: Expert

"We need to get back to a system that's sane, we need to get back to a system that's secure," said Toronto Immigration Lawyer Sergio Karas.

torontosun.com

 

[Serryah]

 

[petros]

Why does this guy think these people are being "housed" and will all die from dengue fever or be fed to alligators?

They will be there long enough to process and put on a flight back wherever to be eaten by crocodiles, cayman and killer bees instead.

What did the Dems plan offer to document and sort everyone look like? A weekend in Yellowstone to be eaten by bears, cats, wolves, mosquitos, ticks and black flies?

It's still 100°F but it's a dry heat.