“Defend the Sacred.”

“Protect the Glades.”

“Everglades restoration, not exploitation.”

Environmental advocates held signs as they lined the Tamiami Trail near the planned site of the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility on Sunday, June 22 to draw attention to what they fear could be an environmental catastrophe.

The State of Florida and the federal government plan to convert the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport to a migrant detention center. The site, which is within the Big Cypress National Preserve, was once considered for a jetport. In 1969, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, author of “River of Grass,” founded Friends of the Everglades to oppose the development. Work halted in 1970, after a 10,500-foot runway was completed. The airstrip has since been used for pilot training.

“We’re advocating for the environment,” said Betty Osceola of the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida, who organized the public event. The Big Cypress Swamp is considered sacred land to the Tribe. “We will be praying over the area,” she explained.

In a televised press conference on June 25, Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed the project would have “zero” environmental impact. The governor used emergency powers to take over the property, which is owned by Miami Dade-County.

"We had a request from the federal government to do it, and so Alligator Alcatraz it is," DeSantis said.

“This is an airport that is already there. From a security perspective, if someone escapes, there’s a lot of alligators they are going to have to contend with.

"We're not doing like permanent sewer and all. It's all temporary," DeSantis said. "We set it up. We break it down. This isn't our first rodeo. The thing's been used a bunch of times over many, many years, and so the impact will be zero, and that's in keeping with our policy to do really historic Everglades restoration."

Osceola questioned the governor’s claim of “zero” environmental impact. She said they have been watching dump trucks haul fill dirt to the site. In a Fox News interview, DeSantis shared a drawing of the site indicated future construction planned on the southeast corner of the runway, she added.

The area has a lot of wetlands. In the wet season, “the only thing out of water is the runway itself,” Osceola explained.

“In the Big Cypress, 40% of the water flows through that area,” she said. “It recharges the drinking water aquifer. A lot of people don’t realize where their drinking water comes from.

Housing thousands of federal detainees on the site will mean increased traffic on the Tamiami Trail, which means more vehicle exhaust and noise. That will impact wildlife and the environment, she continued.

The Big Cypress Preserve is not a desolate wilderness, Osceola said. Miccosukees and Seminoles live there. Miccosukee ceremonial grounds are just east of the old jetport site. There are burial mounds in the area. Some Gladesmen live in the preserve. It is also a popular tourism area.

Osceola said the claims the alligators and snakes will provide perimeter security are ridiculous. Alligators and snakes usually avoid people, she said. If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Just watch videos of the python hunters, she suggested. The pythons are trying to get away.

“They say it is a desolate place and no one could survive there. I survive there. My ancestors survived there,” she said.

Osceola said the Tribe was given no notice about the project. She found out about it when someone sent her a link to a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on June 19.

She said these decisions are being made by people who don’t understand the fragile ecosystem of the Big Cypress.

Osceola also has a lot of questions about the detention center plan. From what little information has been shared, it appears they plan to house people in tents. “How are they going to keep these individuals from dying of heat stroke?” she asked. “If there is a hurricane, are they going to evacuate them? Where would they take them?”

She said Tamiami Trail is already used as an evacuation route. As the most recent storm threatened the gulf, it took six hours to get from Tampa to Miami, she said. If there are thousands more people who have to be evacuated, it will take even longer.

“They’re hauling a lot of fuel onsite for the generators. Where are they storing the fuel? What will happen if there is a fire from a lightning strike?” she continued. “ Could a large amount of fuel be spilled if hurricane-force winds sweep through the Big Cypress?

“It’s very concerning,” she said. “There are a lot of questions that need answers.”

Osceola encourages everyone who cares about the Everglades to call or write to their elected officials. “People have a powerful voice, and they need to use it,” she said. “We need our elected politicians to stand up and stop this nonsense.

“We did it before,” she added. “Even President Nixon understood.”

Environmental advocates will gather again on the Tamiami Trail near the entrance to the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Saturday, June 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.