The FAA issued a “VIP Movement Notice” on July 1 for O’Copy, Florida, located near the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention site.
“Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center planned in Florida
Florida Attorney General James Usmieryer has released a trailer video for Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention center scheduled to open in July.
- The FAA has issued a VIP campaign notice for O’Copy, Florida, suggesting a possible presidential visit.
- The notice shows the 30/10 NMR, the protective radius reserved for the President of the United States.
- Ochopee is the location of a planned immigration detention center called “Wannial Catraz.”
- The White House has not confirmed President Trump’s travel plans.
Is President Donald Trump heading to Florida’s so-called “Crocodile Alcatraz” immigration detention center?
“This weekend I spoke to the president,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on June 30. “He’s very excited to do that.”
The Federal Aviation Administration issued the “VIP Movement Notice” on Tuesday, July 1st in O’Copy, Florida. The alerts are from 30/10 NMR, representing the protection inner core radius of 10 nautical miles and the outer ring radius of 30 nautical miles.
These distances are reserved for the President of the United States.
Ochopee is the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport website. It has appeared in the news for over a week as the location of the Florida Everglades’ planned immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.
“You’re literally coming down the president tomorrow to promote what Florida has done,” said De Santis. “I think I’m ready for business by tomorrow.”
Attempts to ask the White House for Sunday’s confirmation on this week’s president’s travel plans were unsuccessful. The president, who focused on passing the US Senate’s massive GOP tax and spending bill throughout the weekend, also did not post any potential visits to his true social accounts.
Desantis provided the President with an invitation to visit the facility during a cable news interview.
The governor even said he could land on the Everglades runway, which the Air Force once envisioned as an airport site. The first detainee from what Trump promised would be to be the biggest deportation crackdown in US history to arrive at the holding facility on July 1.
“I think the president was impressed by what these guys are doing here,” DeSantis said on June 29th in the “Fox and Friends” program.
Environmental groups are appealing to halt construction of the Everglades detention center
Nevertheless, the development of detention facilities on the property near Everglades National Park is a source of conflict.
Two groups of Everglades Friends and the Center for Biodiversity have filed lawsuits against the Florida Department of Emergency Management, the Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop what they said.
Sierra Club Florida is also opposed to developments that it said were “irresponsible.”
“The proposal is not only deeply inhumane, but also very irresponsible from an environmental, ethical and financial perspective,” the state branch of the state agency said in a statement on June 24th.
On Saturday, June 28th, protesters gathered on the access road to Dade Carrier Airport to protest the construction of a detention centre. The demonstration was led by activist and member of the Mikkoski tribe, Betty Osceola.
Trump is popular in Miami-Dade, but immigrants are conflicting supporters
The president’s visit will come as he has jurisdiction, a long-standing fortress of Hispanic population, business hubs and political foundations, as his immigration policies are shaking Miam Dade County. And where Republicans made a major breakthrough during their Trump era.
Trump crushed Vice President Kamala Harris in the traditional Blue County in the 2024 presidential vote. He lost the county to President Joe Biden in 2020, but at a narrower margin than in 2016, by a narrower margin against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
However, cracking down on immigration, particularly in cases of pending asylum and other status, caused a surprise. It also ended the regime’s temporary protection status for Venezuelans and canceled the humanitarian parole program that benefits Cubans and Nicaraguans.
Earlier this month, Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia spoke in X in a highly critical post for White House immigration advisor Stephen Miller.
“I understand the importance of deporting criminal foreigners, but what we are witnessing is arbitrary measures to drive people who are complying with immigration hearings.
“This undermines the sense of fairness and justice that Americans cherish,” she said.
Another South Miami-Dade County immigration facility, Chrome Detention Center, was the site of the protest. Some activists and lawyers of those detained there condemned the situation and overcrowding.
Though critical of the Biden administration’s border policy, three Cuban-Americans in Congress in Miami, Mario Diaz Barrato, Carlos Guimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar also support Venezulean’s ongoing TPS coverage. In May, the three All Republicans issued a statement saying they “consistently support them and continue to support temporary protected positions” for the Venezuelans of the United States.
“There is a clear distinction between members of Tren de Aragua, who exploited Biden’s open borders and wreaked havoc in the American community, and the individuals who have arrived in our country who have escaped the oppressive obsessions of (Nicolas) Maduro,” the bill claims.
Antonio Fins is the political and business editor for the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Florida Network. You can contact him at afins@pbpost.com.
