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Trump administration approves 'Alligator Alcatraz' where ICE detainees face nature's own security system

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Trump administration approves 'Alligator Alcatraz' where ICE detainees face nature's own security system

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The Trump administration on Tuesday afternoon announced that it approved construction of an off-the-grid facility to house ICE detainees in the heart of Florida’s “alligator alley.” 

Florida state officials began building the site on Monday, which will be completed in less than two months. 

A 30-square-mile property in the Everglades called the Miami-Dade/Collier Training Facility, home to a “virtually abandoned airport,” will soon be the site of a 5,000-bed facility to hold criminal illegal immigrants, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. 

“The governor tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities. I think this is the best one: as I call it, ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’” Uthmeier said in a promotional video on X.

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An aerial view of the Florida Everglades. (Getty Images)

TRUMP IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT HAMPERED BY DETENTION CAPACITY, FLORIDA SHERIFF WARNS

Uthmeier’s office said the goal is to have the facility operational the first week of July. The Florida National Guard will play a key role at the site, which is a temporary repurposing of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport which is land owned by Miami-Dade County.

Uthmeier said the location presents “an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility” because it does not require heavy investment in perimeter confinement measures. 

“[If] people get out, there’s not that much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons,” he said. “Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.” 

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Uthmeier said the project can be rapidly completed in just 30 to 60 days of beginning construction, which was slated to begin Monday, according to the New York Times.

That report says the facility will cost the state about $450 million per year to operate, but that it can be reimbursed at least in part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced during a press conference that his office is offering to send a team of additional prosecutors to the Ninth Circuit to assist Orange/Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell with a backlog of cases, Monday, Apr. 14, 2025. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

DOZENS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED AT FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION SITES

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. 

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The move was announced as the Trump administration continues to ramp up deportations, and looks for places for detainees to stay during that process. 

One option is the notorious Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, where the administration seeks to fill 30,000 beds with illegal immigrants. 

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller confirmed last month that the Trump administration’s goal is to arrest 3,000 illegal immigrants daily, a statement which was reaffirmed by border czar Tom Homan. 

“We’ve gotta increase these arrests and removals,” Homan said on “America’s Newsroom.” “The numbers are good, but I’m not satisfied. I haven’t been satisfied all year long.”

Border czar Tom Homan said arrests of illegal immigrants need to increase. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Uthmeier’s office. 

Fox News’ Danamarie McNicholl and Cam Arcand contributed to this report. 

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Florida boater accused of killing teen in crash avoids jail time with plea deal

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Florida boater accused of killing teen in crash avoids jail time with plea deal

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A man who failed to stop his boat after fatally striking a 15-year-old high school student and ballerina in 2024 has pleaded guilty in the deadly boating incident.

The man’s attorneys had previously noted that he did not realize he had hit someone with his vessel, according to WTVJ.

Ella Adler, the granddaughter of then-U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Michael Adler, had been wakeboarding and had fallen into the water, according to the Key Biscayne Independent, which noted that boater Carlos Guillermo “Bill” Alonso fatally hit her in his 42-foot-Boston Whaler.

FLORIDA MEN CHARGED IN FATAL BOATING HIT-AND-RUN OF 15-YEAR-OLD BALLERINA

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Ella Adler, 15, was killed in a hit-and-run boating accident in May 2024.  (Courtesy of the Adler Family )

A statement provided to Fox News Digital by Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, described the incident as a “tragic accident.”

“Our hearts go out to the Adler family. This was a tragic accident, and, of course, Bill never intended to hurt anyone that day. Bill’s decision to plead guilty was driven by his hope that doing so would cause less pain to Ella’s family and help shine a light on the Ella Riley Adler Foundation,” the statement noted.

Alonso pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor careless boating, according to The Miami Herald.

FLORIDA OWNER OF BOAT ‘OF INTEREST’ IN TEEN BALLERINA’S DEATH IDENTIFIED, AS MORE DETAILS OF COLLISION EMERGE

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Carlos Guillermo Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, helps him out of a car in 2024. (WSVN)

The teen killed in the boating incident had performed in “The Nutcracker” over 100 times with the Miami City Ballet, the Key Biscayne Independent noted.

“Ella was extraordinary. She radiated joy, kindness and creativity in every room she entered. She was a devoted daughter, a beloved sister and a fierce and loyal friend,” Adler’s father, Matthew, said in a statement read in court, according to the outlet. 

“Her life was filled with love, laughter, dance and meaning. Ella didn’t just live. She danced through life.”

JULY FOURTH BOATERS WARNED ABOUT DEADLY WATERFRONT DANGER WITH LIFESAVING SUMMER TIPS

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Carlos Guillermo Alonso exits a vehicle with his attorney. (WSVN)

The outlet reported that Alonso was sentenced to 12 months of probation as part of a plea agreement and that he is able to have his probation terminated after six months. Provided he fulfills the court’s conditions, he will be able to petition the court for his guilty pleas to be vacated, the outlet reported.

Edmund Richard Hartley, the captain of the vessel that had been towing Adler, has also been charged, but he has pleaded not guilty, according to The Miami Herald.

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Trump seeks more than $6M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case

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Trump seeks more than M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case

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President Donald Trump is asking the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to reimburse him more than $6.2 million in attorney fees and costs in the wake of the recently dismissed 2020 election interference case she brought against him. 

The development comes after Willis was permanently sidelined from prosecuting the case against Trump last September. She had lost an appeal after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was then dismissed in November. 

Georgia state legislators last year passed a law that says that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of his or her own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, anyone charged in that case is entitled to request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in their defense. The judge overseeing the case then is responsible for reviewing the request and awarding the fees and costs, which are to be paid from the budget of the prosecutor’s office. 

“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in a statement.

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FANI WILLIS PERMANENTLY REMOVED FROM PROSECUTING TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE AFTER LOSING APPEAL

President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)

A motion filed Wednesday said, “President Trump prays that this Court award attorney fees and costs for the defense of President Trump in the amount of $6,261,613,08.” 

Willis’ indictment had accused Trump of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 vote in Georgia, organizing “fake electors” and harassing election workers. 

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, and Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24.

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GEORGIA CALLS SPECIAL ELECTION IN MARCH TO FILL MTG VACANCY

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County (Getty Images)

Last month, when another person charged in the case made a similar filing, Willis’ office filed a motion asking to be heard on the matter of any claims for fees and costs filed in the case, according to The Associated Press. 

Willis’ motion raised concerns about the law passed last year that allowed Trump and others to seek to have their expenses paid. 

“The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution,” her motion said.

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Donald Trump’s booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office after he surrendered on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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Her motion also added that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme” that creates a substantial burden for the county’s taxpayers without any recourse. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor

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After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor

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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.

The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”

Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.

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FLASHBACK: STACEY ABRAMS MULLS THIRD STRAIGHT RUN FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR

Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.

Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.

JOSH SHAPIRO LAUNCHES 2026 GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN AS 2028 WHITE HOUSE BUZZ SWIRLS

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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.

Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent. 

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.

And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.

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Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

FRAUD FALLOUT FORCES WALZ TO ABANDON GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION BID

Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)

In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.

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The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.

Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.

“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”

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