"Alligator Alcatraz" will be used to detain criminal illegal immigrants in order to both protect state residents and deport migrants efficiently, Florida GOP Chair Evan Power told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Appearing on "National Report" on the day that the facility, several dozen miles west of Miami, will start operating and be visited by President Donald Trump, Power said that "we are using it to house criminal illegals, the worst of the worst, so that we can both protect Floridians and move illegals out of this country in a timely manner, which is what the voters of America asked for and what the voters of Florida asked for."
He emphasized that the migrant detention center is in a remote area in the Florida Everglades, where there is "one way in by road, the one way out is by plane to another country."
He said that the detention center will be the "tip of the spear" for preventing illegal immigration.
Power insisted that "we want to have a safe, secure Florida. We want the criminal illegals out and we want to allow peaceful, legal immigrants to come here and make Florida work for everyone."
He said that this view is shared by a record number of Hispanics in the state who voted for Trump, not only those from Cuba who have always held this view.
Power said that Hispanics who legally entered the country are also against those who did not play by the rules and arrived in the U.S. illegally.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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