Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lauded Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" as a model for state-run detention centers housing migrants, telling CBS News the proximity to an airport gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement newfound "efficiency."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to open Alligator Alcatraz at a remote airstrip surrounded by the Everglades in South Florida.
Noem told CBS that similar sites are being considered in Arizona, Nebraska, and Louisiana. Further, governors in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas said last month they're ready to assist in President Donald Trump's mass deportations of illegal immigrants without confirming whether they've been contacted.
"The locations we're looking at are right by airport runways that will help give us an efficiency that we've never had before," Noem told the network.
"Most of them are interested," sher said of governors and state leaders, adding, "Many of them have facilities that may be empty or underutilized."
Noem said the proximity to airports and runways helps cut costs by "facilitating quick turnarounds."
"They're all strategically designed to make sure that people are in beds for less days," she said. "It can be much more efficient once they get their hearings, due process, paperwork."
Alligator Alcatraz will cost $450 million to operate in its first year. The detention center, which received its first detainees July 1 — the day Noem and Trump toured the facility — can hold 3,000 people.
While the facility located 45 miles west of Miami uses funds provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Noem said the state-based model will be funded by the $45 billion pool that was allocated in the One Big Beautiful Bill that Trump signed into law last month.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.