Miami clergy raise concerns as Trump tours Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz'

MIAMI (OSV News) -- Most Americans agree on the need for good U.S. border security, but to hear politicians and civil authorities hurl insults and jokes at the expense of migrants as Florida opened its new "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades "is sinful."

That is the view of Spain-born Father Federico Capdepón, a retired priest of the Miami Archdiocese and one of several local clergy who have been accompanying migrants to deportation court hearings and who are concerned about the aggressive tone and pace of deportations under President Donald Trump's administration.

"To persecute migrants is not Christian and we have to follow what Popes Francis and Leo have said: We need to keep as a priority for the church the situation that thousands and thousands of migrants are going through; we need to speak up and follow what the Gospel says about migrants in our country," Father Capdepón told OSVNews on July 1, the same day that President Donald Trump toured what has been called Alligator Alcatraz, a makeshift federal detention center.

It is located at the site of the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, operated by Miami-Dade Aviation airport in the Florida Everglades some 55 miles from Miami's downtown and 60 miles from Naples on the Gulf Coast.

Plans call for a 5,000-bed immigrant detention center on the site, with it possibly serving as a model for several more similar migrant detention centers reportedly being discussed in other locations in Florida and other states.

Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis used emergency powers to expedite the construction of the new facility, which has drawn criticism from local environmentalists, immigrant advocates and Native American nations based in South Florida.

"The security is amazing, natural and otherwise," DeSantis, who is Catholic, said in a June 30 press conference. "It can be an effective way to increase the number of removals and deportations. You are able to bring people in, they get processed; and if they have an order of removal, they can be queued and the federal government can put them on a plane and they are gone."

In addition, DeSantis added that National Guard staff could act as immigration judges on site to expedite cases, furthering the Trump administration's focus on immigration and deportations.

"In Florida we estimate that we have 50,000 illegal aliens who have already been ordered to be removed by an immigration judge," the governor added.

According to an analysis by Pew Research Center of 2022 data, Florida is home to 1.2 million immigrants without legal status, or 5% of the state's population of 22 million people.

Trump, who was joined at the facility tour by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said that Alligator Alcatraz could serve as a model for future projects and was needed to address a massive number of border crossings during President Joe Biden's term.

"This is not a nice business," Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House to head to Florida. Then he joked that "we're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison."

But Father Capdepón, who helps direct social services and communications at Miami's Corpus Christi Parish downtown, said he has seen firsthand how longtime residents of the U.S. are fearful of being sent back to troubled countries that they left decades ago after establishing family and work ties in the U.S.

"Why are we sending back people from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti and Cuba -- countries with problems with gangs, drugs and extortions?" the priest asked, adding that he and retired Miami priest Father John O'Leary, also of Corpus Christi Parish, are accompanying members of their community to deportation hearings locally.

The opening of Alligator Alcatraz comes as the Trump administration on June 27 announced an end to Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the U.S. and who may be deported to a country riddled with gang-related violence. A federal judge in New York on July 1 issued an order blocking the administration's sudden end to TPS, saying it had to remain in place until its originally scheduled Feb. 3 expiration date.

"This breaks all the barriers on how we treat migrants; being a country of migrants that traditionally welcomed migrants knowing that migrants are doing the jobs that absolutely no one wants to do," Father Capdepón said. "To have this Alligator Alcatraz is a very sinful initiative -- to say nobody can escape because the gators are around is very sinful."

"The lady that I will accompany to deportation hearing next month has been in this country for more than 25 years and has two daughters who are citizens; now she is being told to go to deportation hearing and she could be deported back to a county that she has not lived in for a long time," he said, adding that he hopes to see the church take a stronger position in defense of migrants.

Father Elvis González, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Miami, who provides prison ministry at a migrant detention center in Florida, said he has seen the rapid increase of detainees that precipitated the building of the new facility in the Everglades.

"In my opinion what is going on is very unfortunate: All of us agree criminals should (not escape) justice if they committed a crime, but immigrants need due process and an opportunity to finish that and see what the judge decides," said Father González. The priest ministers twice monthly at a federal immigration detention center in Miami, where he celebrates Mass and visits with inmates.

"It is heartbreaking to see hard-working people paying the price because other people committed a crime and now anybody can be targeted even if they are in the process of receiving asylum," he said.

"The last time I went a month ago I remember some of those men approaching me during Easter season saying they will not be home for the first Communion or confirmation of their children. So they are waiting to see the judge and to decide their fate," he said.

Father González said he would prefer to see the millions of dollars being spent on building more immigration detention facilities be put in securing the border, which most people agree is necessary and ethical, he said.

"That they are using that part of the Everglades gives the impression not only for security, but (that) they are hiding what they are doing," he said. "People want security and to use the money for different things."

The Associated Press reported that the site's remote location "is meant to be a deterrent against illegal immigration and a motivator for detainees to self-deport."

The AP said the facility has heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings set up to house migrants, and the state has plans to start construction on permanent housing after July 4.

Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, who was on vacation at the time of the president's visit, has said Trump is taking the wrong approach. The archbishop has said broken immigration laws and not migrants are the problem, and that mass deportations will cause harm to the economy.