Why Trump’s Trip to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Could Boost ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

President Donald Trump is visiting Florida’s new immigration detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” on Tuesday, which the White House contends backs up the need to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill.

A reporter on Monday asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt why Trump would travel to the facility about 50 miles west of Miami while the fate of the key tax and spending legislation hangs in the balance in the Senate. 

“His trip to this detention facility underscores the need to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill because we need more detention facilities across the country,” Leavitt said. “The last administration let in nearly 20 million illegal people from all over the world. This administration is focused on arresting and detaining them.”

If the bill, which locks in the 2017 Trump tax cuts and includes new money for border and immigration enforcement, passes the Senate, it has to return to the House for final passage after its initially narrow approval there. 

“In comparison to that 20 million illegal criminal population in our country, we only have 7,000 ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents in the interior who are doing this very important work,” the press secretary continued. “So, obviously, we need more personnel, we need more resources. That’s why we need to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., will also be at the detention center for the opening. 

“The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’” Leavitt said. “There is only one road leading in. The only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process, and deport criminal illegal aliens. This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest deportation campaign in American history.”

The original Alcatraz was an island prison off the coast of California that was difficult to escape. That facility was long ago shuttered as a prison but continues to be a tourist attraction.

Leavitt later stressed the facility is specifically for criminal illegal aliens.

“When you have illegal murderers and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape,” she said.  “We do know that some of these illegal criminals have escaped from other detention facilities like one in New Jersey. Of course, we want to keep the American people safe. We want to remove these public safety threats from our streets and we want to effectively detain them as best as we can.”

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