Florida makes one thing absolutely clear after Obama judge orders teardown of Alligator Alcatraz



An Obama judge issued an injunction on Thursday ordering Florida not only to halt the arrival of new detainees to Alligator Alcatraz but to begin dismantling the facility.

The Sunshine State isn't rolling over, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' office indicated that President Donald Trump's deportation campaign will continue as planned.

Quick background

After DeSantis tasked state leaders with identifying places for a new detention facility to temporarily house outbound criminal noncitizens, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier made a public pitch in favor of "Alligator Alcatraz" — "an old, virtually abandoned airport facility" in the Everglades that could serve as "the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump's mass deportation agenda."

Uthmeier got his way, confirming in June that the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport would indeed become home to America's first state-run facility for federal immigration detainees — a facility that the Department of Homeland Security told Blaze News would ultimately house up to 5,000 beds for illegal aliens in soft and hardened structures.

Within weeks, the airport's 10,499-foot runway was crowded with tents and unsavory characters set for deportation.

As with virtually all effective initiatives related to the detention and deportation of criminal noncitizens, Alligator Alcatraz's development was challenged by liberal activists.

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Blaze Media illustration. Note: This is a Blaze Media illustration, not the actual facility.

One of the legal efforts to shut down the camp was launched on June 27 by two environmental groups, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.

According to the plaintiffs, Alligator Alcatraz was being operated in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires environmental review processes in cases of federal actions that significantly impact the environment — processes the environmentalists claim had not been undertaken.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Deputy Director Keith Pruett pointed out that the environmentalists' concerns were overblown and that the airport was already active, permanently lit — one of the environmentalists concern-mongered about possible light pollution — and home to existing buildings.

The lawsuit further alleged that Florida's involvement in the project through the Florida Division of Emergency Management exceeded the agency's authority and that Miami-Dade County unlawfully permitted the use of the airport as a detention facility.

Obama judge weighs in

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams made clear in her 82-page order on Thursday that she was persuaded neither by the Trump administration's argument that "the significant national interest in combating unlawful immigration favors allowing Florida to continue the development and use of [the detention camp]" nor by Florida's assertion that the facility was necessary because other facilities are at capacity.

Williams, an Obama appointee, suggested that the perceived need for Alligator Alcatraz "fails to explicate the decision to place the detention camp in the Everglades."

'We're going to continue to do what we need to do to help the Trump administration remove illegal aliens from our country.'

Having ordered a temporary pause weeks earlier, Williams formally barred both the Trump administration and state officials from installing any additional lighting at the facility; undertaking any expansion efforts, including erecting additional tents or buildings; and bringing any new detainees to the site.

Her order allows, however, for modification or repairs to existing facilities if executed for the sole purpose of "increasing safety or mitigating environmental or other risks at the site."

The Obama judge further ordered Florida and the Trump administration to dismantle the temporary fencing, lighting fixtures, generators, and waste receptacles installed to support the project within 60 days.

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Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

"Every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades," wrote Williams. "This Order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises."

Friends of the Everglades celebrated the ruling.

Eve Samples, executive director of the group, stated, "This decision sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them."

Florida fights back

DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Blaze News, "This ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade. It is another attempt to prevent the president from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists, from our country."

"This activist judge doesn’t care about the invasion of our country facilitated by the Biden administration, but the American people do," continued McLaughlin. "We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”

Florida has appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

DeSantis told Fox News he knew the "fix was in" and that Williams "was not giving us a fair shake."

"We totally expected an adverse ruling," said DeSantis. "And we also knew we were going to immediately appeal and get that decision stayed. So we will ultimately be successful in this. It's not going to stop our resolve. We're going to continue to do what we need to do to help the Trump administration remove illegal aliens from our country. You know, that's the mandate that they have. So we anticipated this, but I don't think it's going to be insurmountable in the end."

Blaze News has reached out to DeSantis' office for further comment.

While the fate of Alligator Alcatraz is up in the air, DeSantis' office made clear that there's no slowing down the deportation train.

Alex Lanfranconi, DeSantis' communications director, noted, "The deportations will continue until morale improves."

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The Trump effect: Americans — not foreigners — continue to gain jobs



Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data accessed through the Federal Reserve Economic Data system, Snopes indicated that under former President Joe Biden, native-born Americans' share of job gains from January 2024 to June 2024 was 51.7%. While native-born Americans picked up roughly 1.09 million jobs, foreign-born individuals grabbed 1.02 million jobs.

Under President Donald Trump a year later, native-born Americans accounted for 100% of non-seasonally adjusted job gains from January to June.

The U.S. Department of Labor revealed on Friday that this trend continued into last month, stating, "Wages are up, investments are pouring into our nation, and native-born workers have accounted for ALL job gains since January!

'That's a result of our strong immigration policy.'

According to the latest jobs numbers from the BLS, the employment of American-born workers was up roughly 383,000 last month. Meanwhile, foreign-born worker numbers plunged by 467,000.

Bloomberg noted that the imported workforce — a mix of legal and illegal migrants — is down roughly 1.7 million jobs since March.

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Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation's Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, noted that "despite [a] disappointing headline, this jobs report was best [July] ever for employment among native-born Americans, up 2 million Y/Y and annual growth 2.2 million faster than among foreign-born workers; native-born American employment is now 1.8 million above pre-pandemic level."

Blaze News has reached out to the White House for comment.

Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN that "since the president took office, he [has] created about 2.5 million jobs for Americans, whereas we've eliminated about a million jobs for foreign-born workers. That's a result of our strong immigration policy, of our strong border policy keeping America safe."

"Eventually the outflow of foreign workers in these data were bound to show up in the establishment surveys, as they finally did this morning," added Miran.

The jobs report indicated further that in July, 73,000 new jobs were added; the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2%; the labor force participation rate was 62.2%; and the "federal government continued to lose jobs."

Following the release of the latest jobs report, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) stated, "Unlike during the Biden administration, when taxpayers were forced to pay for millions of new bureaucrats while watching their grocery and gas bills skyrocket, President Trump’s economy is freeing the private sector to create new jobs with more financial security for American families.

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The Left Would Rather Embrace Mass Immigration Than Help Struggling Americans

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-24-at-10.43.15 PM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-24-at-10.43.15%5Cu202fPM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]The praise of immigrants over troubled native-born Americans demonstrates the Left’s tendency toward convenience and replaceability.

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I was separated from my mom because Ireland enforced its laws



I spent the first nine months of my life separated from my mother — not because of cruelty or neglect, but because Ireland enforced its immigration laws.

My mother, a U.S. citizen in her late 20s, traveled to Ireland to visit her brother while pregnant with me. Medical complications during her pregnancy made further air travel unsafe, and she overstayed her visa. After my birth, Ireland’s immigration rules required her to leave while officials sorted out my paperwork.

A nation without enforcement invites chaos, and chaos always hurts the most vulnerable first.

As a result, I — a U.S. citizen by birth and by heritage — spent my infancy with a foster family in a foreign country.

I don’t blame Ireland for enforcing its laws. I don’t blame my mother for traveling when it was risky. Life handed us a difficult situation, but the government didn’t become the villain. That experience taught me a truth that applies directly to America’s current debate over deportation and family separation.

Enforcement isn’t cruelty

My story doesn’t qualify as a sob story. It’s simply the fact of the matter. For years, activists and media outlets have flooded Americans with emotional tales of children separated from their parents during deportation. The usual narrative paints Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as soulless monsters tearing families apart for sport.

That’s nonsense.

I lived through separation. I understand the pain. But I also understand something else: Nations enforce laws not because they’re heartless, but because they must.

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

My mother’s visa violation led to our temporary separation. The U.S. does the same to those who violate our immigration laws. These actions don’t stem from hatred or malice. They serve the purpose of preserving order, national sovereignty, and the rule of law.

I know what loss feels like

I spent my earliest months far from the woman who gave me life. I never had the chance to meet my father — he was murdered before I could know him. My mother died of cancer when I was 7. Separation and loss defined my childhood.

But I’ve never blamed the Irish government for upholding its laws. Immigration enforcement didn’t cause my father’s death. It didn’t cause my mother’s cancer. Life brings tragedy, sometimes with no one to blame.

Emotional pain doesn’t make law enforcement unjust. It makes law enforcement necessary. Countries must uphold their borders. And when they fail to do so, real people suffer — on both sides of the law.

The American system is under siege

The United States faces a historic immigration crisis.

In 2019, during President Trump’s first term, ICE arrested approximately 143,000 aliens and removed more than 267,000. In 2024, under Joe Biden, those numbers shifted: 113,431 arrests, 271,484 removals — despite over 11 million border encounters during his term. That dwarfs the roughly 3 million encounters under Trump’s entire administration.

The Department of Homeland Security also reports that 1.4 million inadmissible aliens received parole into the country’s interior. As of mid-2024, nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens remained on ICE’s non-detained docket — free to roam the United States.

That doesn’t seem like compassion. That’s more like collapse.

These figures signal a breakdown of accountability. And when laws go unenforced at this scale, tragedy doesn’t just grow — it multiplies.

Responsibility, not blame

I only had a handful of years with my mother. I understand the impulse to blame something — or someone — when that kind of pain hits. But blame rarely leads to truth. It deflects responsibility and gives emotional suffering a temporary target.

It’s a political crutch as much as a psychological one. But what if we stopped pointing fingers and started taking responsibility? Every choice brings consequences. That’s not cruelty — it’s Newton’s third law in action.

Walk into someone’s home uninvited, and that person has every right to call the police. Try to explain away the trespass, and it won’t change the fact that the law exists to protect the homeowner. If we accept that principle at the level of private property, we should respect it at the level of national borders.

Not every story is the same

My situation 30 years ago was different from what we see today. My mother, aside from a parking ticket, had no criminal history. She didn’t intend to break the law. In contrast, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 44% of prosecuted illegal immigrants today already have a criminal record.

I didn’t arrive in America through human smugglers. I wasn’t trafficked. I wasn’t handed over to a fraudulent sponsor.

I came home because my grandfather — a World War II veteran and political organizer — fought for me. He used every resource he had, including connections to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), to bring me back to the United States. I flew across the Atlantic on the lap of a decorated American soldier, finally returning to the country that already recognized me as its own.

We owe the next generation better

That’s why I can’t accept the argument that lawlessness is compassion. It isn’t.

We owe it to every child born here, raised here, or separated like I was not to replace justice with sentimentality. A nation without enforcement invites chaos, and chaos always hurts the most vulnerable first.

This debate isn’t about cruelty. It’s about sovereignty. It’s about clarity. It’s about preserving a system that works for those who follow the law — and holding accountable those who don’t.

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Maryland Democrat proves loyalty to Kilmar Garcia; shirks constituents to visit him



Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has been promoting his trip to El Salvador last week to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal immigrant who is currently sitting in an El Salvador prison.

President Donald Trump is not amused by Van Hollen’s leftist antics, and he made that clear in a Truth Social post, writing, “Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!”

“I probably haven’t seen a public stunt face-plant as hard since my pal and friend Eric Bolling put ketchup on his hands to talk about how Obama had blood on his, and nobody got it,” Christopher Bedford, Blaze News senior editor for politics, tells Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson of “Blaze News Tonight.”


“That he would go and leave his constituents,” he continues, “leave Maryland behind, go to a foreign country, post TikTok videos about it, post on Twitter about it, post on Instagram about it, go to a prison to demand the release of someone who’s not one of his citizens, someone who’s been affiliated with a gang, someone who an immigration judge and an immigration appeals court has found is affiliated with a gang.”

Meanwhile, Bedford notes that a Maryland mother of five was beaten to death by an illegal immigrant and only got a minor press release in response. Rachel Morin was only 37 years old when she was found dead near the Ma & Pa Trail in Harford County on August 6, 2023, a day after she left for a jog.

“Just to show you where his priorities are,” Bedford says, mocking Van Hollen, “‘I’m gonna fly all the way down to El Salvador, and you’re going to pay for it. And these are my constituents, the foreigners of the world.’”

“I’ve long written that Democrats care more about foreigners than Americans. Not all Democrats, but a lot of their politicians care more about foreigners than they do about their actual Americans,” he adds.

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