TALLAHASSEE—Florida's Alligator Alcatraz was only the first massive migrant detention center built to help federal authorities detain and deport undocumented immigrants, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed Tuesday.
Soon, 1,000 beds will be added to Indiana's Miami Correctional Facility to create the "Speedway Slammer" detention center in a clear replication of South Florida's Alligator Alcatraz.
"COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds," Noem said on social media, thanking Republican Gov. Mike Braun for helping DHS "remove the worst of the worst."
"If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer," Noem added, echoing similar threats espoused during the construction and unveiling of Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, a small Everglades city straddling Miami-Dade and Collier counties.
The move comes more than a month after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier proposed that state officials convert the near-defunct Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into Alligator Alcatraz, a 5,000-bed facility complete with heavy-duty tents, trailers, and a 10,500-foot runway.
Eight days later, the temporary center with its estimated $450 million price tag was up and running. President Donald Trump joined Gov. Ron DeSantis, Noem, and a host of state and federal authorities to celebrate the center's opening.
In late July, DeSantis announced that "hundreds" of migrants detained at Alligator Alcatraz were in the process of being deported. But the center hasn't existed without controversy.
Three separate lawsuits by the ACLU, Democratic lawmakers, and environmental groups have been filed in various Florida courts to halt the center. Later Wednesday, a federal judge will hold a hearing in Miami to determine whether to shut down the facility's development over concerns of light pollution and habitat destruction to endangered species.
Still, Florida is preparing a second migrant detention center at the National Guard training center in Camp Blanding.
Meanwhile, Uthmeier, the mastermind behind Alligator Alcatraz, was quick to praise Indiana for falling in line with President Donald Trump's anti-illegal immigration agenda.
"Following Florida’s blueprint, states can assist the Trump administration to detain, deport, and deliver for the American people!" he posted on social media. His communications director, Jeremy Redfern, soon after lauded his boss for "starting a movement" of large detention centers.
Soon to house the "Speedway Slammer," Indiana's Miami Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison located at the former Grissom Air Force Base about 70 miles north of Indianapolis, can house up to about 3,100 people, the Indy Star reported.
It's the Trump administration's second planned Indiana location for temporary detentions. On July 15, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Camp Atterbury in Franklin, Indiana, would be used to hold up to 1,000 ICE detainees at this military facility. It's unclear when detentions will begin at this center.
