White House official: $2B for Alcatraz renovations 'sounds excessive'

A senior White House official said Friday that President Trump's request to reopen Alcatraz at a reported $2 billion price tag seems "excessive."

The figure “sounds excessive, but ultimately it’s up to the president to decide,” the official told NewsNation, The Hill's sister station.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum toured the island that houses the complex in San Francisco Bay on Thursday to evaluate the state of the former maximum security prison, which was closed in 1963.

“We're still in the early stages," one administration official told Axios. 

"We need a lot more study, a lot more specificity, before the president decides," the official said. "But $2 billion might just be too much money for him."

The Trump administration has not confirmed the project costs.

Axios reported Friday the president is assessing whether to pour $2 billion into a complete renovation of the site, invest $1 billion into partial reconstruction efforts that would not occupy the entire island or allow private contractors to bid on the project. 

The latter measure was used to secure the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey for federal immigration operations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Shelter and Services Program also recently funded the opening of the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.

The White House and Interior Department did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment on potential developments at the California prison managed by the National Park Service.

The Justice Department pointed The Hill to comments made online by Bondi and Burgum following their trip to the prison.

"In @POTUS’ America, law and order will be fully enforced, and today’s visit to Alcatraz with @AGPamBondi marked a powerful step toward ensuring dangerous criminals are held accountable and Americans remain safe," the Interior secretary wrote on social platform X, while sharing photos from the visit. Bondi posted a similar message.

Trump announced in May that he directed the administration to begin work to reopen the prison, which the Bureau of Prisons said was closed due to high costs.

“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm," he added. "That’s the way it’s supposed to be."

The initiative has sparked some backlash, primarily from Democrats including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who represents San Francisco.

“With stiff competition, the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump Administration’s stupidest initiative yet," Pelosi wrote in a statement. "It should concern us all that clearly the only intellectual resources the Administration has drawn upon for this foolish notion are decades-old fictional Hollywood movies."

She continued, saying "it remains to be seen how this Administration could possibly afford to spend billions to convert and maintain Alcatraz as a prison when they are already adding trillions of dollars to the national debt with their sinful law," a reference to the newly signed "big, beautiful bill."

“Should reason not prevail and Republicans bring this absurdity before the Congress, Democrats will use every parliamentary and budgetary tactic available to stop the lunacy,” the former Democratic leader added.