A new immigration detention facility in Florida, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is set to open on Tuesday at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport near Big Cypress National Preserve.

The facility will be located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport near Big Cypress National Preserve and is planned house up to 5,000 detainees in tents and trailers. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has described the site as cost-effective and secure, with the surrounding swamp and wildlife serving as a natural barrier. The project is backed by federal emergency shelter funding.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend the opening of the facility, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Governor Ron DeSantis, and other state and federal officials.

The detention center’s opening has drawn opposition, however, particularly by the Miccosukee Tribe, which pushed back against the state-backed proposal last week and warning that the plan would jeopardize sacred lands and threaten the cultural integrity of one of Florida’s most historically significant Indigenous territories.

Tribal officials said the facility sits just off the Tamiami Trail, a stretch of land still home to 19 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages. The area includes the federally recognized Miccosukee Reserved Area and the Tribe’s Water Conservation Area 3-A, which leaders say are vital to their way of life.

“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,” said Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress. “The Miccosukee Tribe is opposed to the use of our ancestral lands in Big Cypress as a detention facility.”

Alligator Alcatraz has also faced criticism from Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate David Jolly.

“‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is a callous political stunt. Florida’s most pressing challenge is the housing affordability crisis created by Republican leaders, not immigrants working to support our state’s economy,” said Jolly. “As Governor, I will rescind the current Governor’s emergency order, return control of the airfield to Miami-Dade County, protect the Everglades and the ancestral Miccosukee lands, and ensure that those whose only offense is pursuing the American dream on behalf of their family and kids can continue contributing to Florida’s culture and economy.”