President Donald Trump toured the new “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in Ochopee on July 1, when federal officials announced it will house up to 5,000 detainees and be among several centers nationwide.

The president also emphasized he wouldn’t hurt the area’s farmers while still being strong with his immigration and border stance. “We will take care of farmers while getting the criminals out,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion.

As media and others descended on the 24,960-acre Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, 63 miles southeast of downtown Naples in the Big Cypress National Preserve, protesters, including Miccosukee Tribe members and other Indigenous people, continued their protest along Tamiami Trail leading to the center, holding signs decrying a center on sacred land, the Everglades.

Referring to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, State Attorney General James Uthmeier told the media they weren’t “touching the Everglades” and “there is no environmental harm whatsoever.” As the center opened, he emphasized the speed of construction and the site’s intended purpose.

“This is going to save lives,” Uthmeier said. “It’s a public safety accomplishment, and I’m proud of our Florida officials for getting it done.”

Wearing a red Gulf of America baseball cap, Trump landed on the center’s runway at 10:40 a.m. after departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. He was then given a walking tour of the center, which was up and running in eight days, using massive heavy-duty white tents, white trailers and kitchens purchased using Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. No pipes will be dug, and portable toilet facilities will be used and trucked out.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Byron Donalds, who is running for governor, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Trump on the tour.

Afterward, Trump joined DeSantis, Florida Department of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, Noem and Donalds, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons and six others for a roundtable discussion.

Trump said the site could be as good as the original Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary that operated from 1934 to 1963 in California’s San Francisco Bay. He commended state officials for the speed with which it was built, calling it “incredible.”

“We have a lot of bad criminals that came into this country, and they came in stupidly,” Trump said, blaming former President Joe Biden. “… But we also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time, people that whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they’re not looking … people that knife you when you’re walking down the street.

“They’re not new to our country,” he added. “They’re old to our country. Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, too.”

Trump said he hoped to see similar detention centers in many states and expects at least “a couple more” like this.

“And at some point, they might morph into a system where you keep it for a long time. It’s not that far away from jails that take years to build and money is spent and wasted,” Trump said.

During the discussion, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed. The House Reconciliation bill promises to build a border wall, add 10,000 ICE officers, detention beds, historic funding for Customs and Border Patrol and will tax money those who are in the country illegally send out of the U.S.

Trump assured the media the government won’t hurt farmers who rely on immigrants to work their fields.

“We’re going to issue a form of a card or a document, and the farmer is going to be responsible for these people,” Trump said. “They’re not going to have citizenship, but they’ll be working, they’ll be paying taxes. We need to get our farmers the people they need. Otherwise, our farmers aren’t going to be able to do their land.”

While state, local and federal officials met at the detention center, litigation continued in federal court, where Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit on June 27 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE, FDEM and Miami-Dade County. They also filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.

On July 1, a day after Miami-Dade County responded to the lawsuit, Guthrie filed FDEM’s response. He noted the nation’s unauthorized immigrant population reached 11 million in 2022 and encounters at the southern border reached a historic high of nearly 2.5 million in fiscal year 2023. As a result, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in January due to rising numbers of people entering Florida illegally, and that order has repeatedly been extended, most recently last month.

“Florida is now responding to this crisis by seeking to enable new housing capacity for detainees awaiting deportation, including at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport,” Guthrie’s response stated.

Just as Miami-Dade County contended, Guthrie argued the environmental groups could not be successful legally in obtaining a preliminary injunction to halt the center and asked the judge to deny it.

In an affidavit, FDEM Executive Deputy Director Keith Pruett said Florida plans to seek reimbursement of its expenses from the federal government and has yet to receive reimbursement. He said the “precise source and amount of any such reimbursement is unknown.”

State officials have said the center will cost about $450 million to operate annually, and Collier County officials say no county resources will be used.

Pruett noted it’s an active airfield that’s used daily, including by large aircraft, with about 28,000 flights over the last six months, and two buildings there are “lit 24 hours a day. Compared to the current uses of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, any environmental impact from the construction or operation of a temporary detention and deportation facility is likely to be minimal.”

WINK News contributed to this story.