Trump Bizarrely Rambles About Florida Instead of Answering Question
Donald Trump took off on a winding rant about his summer vacation plans Tuesday when asked a crucial question about “Alligator Alcatraz.”
During a press conference at the ICE facility in the middle of the Florida Everglades, the president was asked whether there was an “expected time frame” that detainees would be kept at the hastily constructed immigrant detention center, and whether it would depend on the immigration judges staffed there.
“When you say, uh, what was the first part of your question?” Trump asked, clearly confused.
“Is there a specific time frame you expect the detainees to spend here—days, weeks, months?” the reporter repeated.
“In Florida?” Trump asked.
“Yes, here at Alligator Alcatraz,” the reporter responded, but the president had already jumped into a response about how much he loves the Sunshine State.
“I’m gonna spend a lot of—this is my home state. I love it. I love your government. I love all the people around—these are all friends of mine. They know me very well. I mean I’m not surprised that they do so well. They’re great people,” Trump said, singling out Governor Ron DeSantis, who previously campaigned against Trump but now acts as a cheerleader for his new wetland-themed concentration camp.
“I feel very comfortable in the state—I’ll spend a lot of time here,” Trump continued. He said that he would continue to visit despite his current digs at the White House, which had allowed him to “fix up” the “little Oval Office.”
“But I’ll spend as much time as I can here. You know my vacation is generally here ’cause it’s convenient. I live in Palm Beach. That’s my home. And I have a very nice little place—nice little cottage to stay at, right? But we have a lot of fun,” Trump continued, joking about his massive estate at the Mar-a-Lago resort.
“Alligator Alcatraz,” a complex of tents built on a defunct Miami-Dade airstrip adjacent to the Big Cypress National Preserve, is expected to open later this month with 5,000 beds, eventually increasing to 10,000. How long immigrant detainees would be expected to stay there remains unclear.
The detention center will cost the state $450 million per year to run, which will be reimbursed through FEMA. Last week, environmental groups filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and Miami-Dade County to block construction until a stringent environmental review of the project had taken place.