Newsweek: Ron DeSantis Wasted $250 Million on Alligator Alcatraz as It Faces Closure

The state of Florida is committed to $245 million toward the construction of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Everglades immigration detention facility which is due to close in days.

An email obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday from Kevin Guthrie, head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, indicates the facility will likely soon be empty, after a federal judge ruled it must cease to operate.

Newsweek contacted Governor DeSantis’s office and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment on Thursday via email outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

Since his second presidential inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has overseen a crackdown aimed at illegal immigration, increasing spending on immigration enforcement and removing legal impediments to rapid deportations.

Having to close the new Florida detention facility would be a blow to both Governor DeSantis and the Trump administration, and would show that one of the main impediments to White House policy continues to be the courts.

What To Know

Figures published by Florida officials show the state has signed contracts worth at least $245 million to companies for work at the new Florida detention facility, which was constructed by repurposing the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee.

The largest single contract, at $78.5 million, went to Jacksonville based Critical Response Strategies which is responsible for hiring corrections officers, camp managers and IT personnel.

Longview Solutions Group was awarded $25.6 million for site preparation and construction while IT company Gothams has a $21.1 million contract to provide services including access badges and detainee wristbands.

Some of the contract details were later removed from Florida’s public database, sparking criticism from Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Florida officials said some of their spending would be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But the Trump administration has said in a court filing it has had nothing to do with funding of the facility, according to CBS: “Florida is constructing and operating the facility using state funds on state lands under state emergency authority.”

The filing also says: “DHS (the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) has not implemented, authorized, directed, or funded Florida’s temporary detention center.”

The facility was expected to cost $450 million to operate each year after construction, according to CNN.

However, in a blow to DeSantis, a federal judge in Miami ruled on August 21 that “Alligator Alcatraz” must be closed down within 60 days, and that no further detainees could be transferred to the facility during this time. Just weeks previously the same judge had ordered a halt on construction work at the camp.

Legal challenges had been brought by a coalition of environmental group and the indigenous Miccosukee Tribe.

What People Are Saying

Speaking about conditions at the facility Florida Representative Debbie Schultz, a Democrat, said: “They are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.”

In an interview with CNN Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said: “The fact that we’re going to have 3,000 people detained in tents, in the Everglades, in the middle of the hot Florida summer, during hurricane season, this is a bad idea all around that needs to be opposed and stopped.”

In a statement previously sent to Newsweek a DHS official said: “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.

“DHS is complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities. We will continue to fight tooth-and-nail to remove the worst of the worst from American streets.”

What Happens Next

The Trump administration is expected to continue its crackdown on illegal migrants in the United States in a move that will put pressure on existing immigration detention facilities, and could lead to more being constructed.

https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-wasted-250-million-alligator-alcatraz-it-faces-closure-2120638

CBS News: Kilmar Abrego Garcia taken into ICE custody amid new deportation threat

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/kilmar-abrego-garcia-taken-into-ice-custody-amid-new-deportation-threat/vi-AA1LbmYt

I’ve lost track of where this poor guy supposedly is — is he in jail or out of jail today?

Raw Story: DOJ’s shock move lets Trump stack immigration courts with handpicked lawyers

The Justice Department plans to scrap longstanding rules and qualifications for immigration judges and create a new policy where it can appoint any lawyer it wants to temporarily preside over cases, reported Government Executive on Wednesday.

“The change gives Attorney General Pam Bondi wide latitude in selecting officials to oversee asylum and other cases pending before the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Justice Department agency that runs the nation’s immigration courts,” said the report. “That authority could provide President Trump with additional power to withhold legal status from immigrants and expedite his mass deportation efforts.”

Immigration judges are different from typical so-called “Article III” judges, like the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and district courts, who are constitutional officers appointed for life; they are instead “Article I” judges who were authorized by Congress to serve at the pleasure of the presidential administration and hear narrow types of subject matter issues.

“Since 2014, the department has allowed only former immigration judges, administrative law judges from other agencies or Justice attorneys with at least 10 years of experience related to immigration law to serve as temporary immigration judges, or TIJs,” said the report. “In its update, to be issued Thursday as a final rule, EOIR called those parameters overly restrictive, noting it has hired fewer than a dozen temporary judges since the Obama administration put them into place.”

The shortage of immigration judges available to hear cases has been a contentious issue for years, and was part of the reason for the massive backlog of cases for the surge of migrants in the years prior to the Trump administration.

A bipartisan immigration deal cut in the final years of the Biden administration would have established more funding for immigration courts to operate on an expedited basis; however, Trump worked behind the scenes to tank the deal among Republican lawmakers.

This makes a mockery of justice under administrative judges. All administrative judges should be removed from Department of Justice and placed under the supervision of the circuit / district courts.

https://www.rawstory.com/doj-judges

Alternet: Trump’s reckoning may be right around the corner — here’s why

Trump’s possible connection to convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein — who allegedly died by suicide in prison — may be the one thing that undermines his base of support and causes his Republican loyalists in Congress to turn on him. This makes it politically explosive.

With Congress now returning from August recess and the media and Congress looking into “Epsteingate,” the issue will either grow or disappear in the next few weeks.

Roughly half of the country now believes that Trump was involved in crimes committed by Epstein, according to recent polls. And more than two-thirds believes that the Trump administration is hiding information about Epstein.

Before the 2024 presidential election, both Trump and JD Vance called for the release of files related to Epstein. On February 21, Attorney General Pam Bondi, in an appearance on Fox News, said the Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

But the Trump regime still hasn’t released any trove of “Epstein files.” In fact, on July 7, the Justice Department released a memo saying it had found “no incriminating ‘client list’” for Epstein, directly contradicting Bondi.

Then came publication by The Wall Street Journal of what it said was a risqué birthday note Trump wrote to celebrate Epstein’s 50th birthday, prompting Trump to claim that “the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.” The next day, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against Journal over its coverage of his relationship with Epstein, including the birthday note that Trump says he didn’t write.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-defendant who was convicted of sex trafficking minors and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Late Friday, the Justice Department released transcripts of that interview in which Maxwell praises Trump, claims she never saw Trump engage in improper or illegal acts during his long friendship with Epstein, and that there’s no hidden list of powerful clients.

Maxwell’s credibility is questionable. She has a big incentive to tell Trump and his lackeys exactly what they want to hear because she has been trying to overturn or reduce her sentence. Right after her interview she was transferred to a minimum-security prison, a highly unusual move for a convicted sex offender.

Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee has received the first tranche of the Justice Department’s documents in response to its subpoena for all Epstein-related files. Democrats on the Committee claim that fewer 3 percent of the documents are new.

“Epsteingate” has all the hallmarks of a cover-up. Will it bring Trump down? Here are three likely scenarios:

1. Epsteingate keeps growing until it reveals a “smoking gun” that brings Trump down. Assume Trump continues to try to deflect attention from his connection with Epstein by, for example, occupying several American cities and threatening war with Venezuela. Yet the more he tries, the more evidence of his involvement with Epstein mounts. Eventually, a “smoking gun” emerges that forces even Trump loyalists in the House and Senate to vote to impeach and convict him.

2. Nothing comes of it, although it continues to percolate. Periodically, a damaging headline emerges, as more evidence comes out about Trump’s close connections to Epstein. But Trump and his lackeys continue to deflect attention from the stories. His loyalists in Congress refuse to probe any deeper into the issue. He distracts the media with so many controversial neofascist maneuvers that the stories never become a full-blown threat to Trump.

3. The whole Epstein story is a distraction from Trump’s neofascist moves. In reality, the Epstein story is a continuing distraction from what Trump is really doing — his takeover of the nation’s public and private sectors and his alliance with Putin to carve up the world. Every time a new story emerges about the connection between Trump and Epstein, the Trump regime takes more initiatives that violate the laws and the Constitution, but they do so not to distract from his Epstein connection but to take advantage of the public’s obsession with Epstein to bury the regime’s horrific moves.

https://www.alternet.org/trump-epstein-reckoning-2673924289

Alternet: ‘Blatant and deplorable’: Trump admin employees say they’re forced to watch ‘propaganda’

Federal employees at the Department of the Interior are reportedly raising alarms over a weekly video series titled “Inside Interior,” which they describe as “propaganda” — a slick, over‑the‑top portrayal of President Donald Trump and agency leadership, complete with staged scenes and breathless narration.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, once tagged “Diva Doug” for requesting political appointees to bake chocolate chip cookies and summoning a U.S. Park Police helicopter for his own personal use, now finds himself at the center of growing backlash within his own department.

Staffers deride the Environment and Natural Resources Agency as “The Department of Propaganda,” a moniker born from their mounting frustration with weekly “Inside Interior” videos, widely criticized for their slick, “Dear Leader”-style presentation and unabashed praise of Trump and Burgum to a lesser extent.

The latest installment, according to the report, touts that “Interior made major moves to strengthen America’s energy future, protect taxpayer interests, and keep our nation’s capital city safe.”

But the true inflection point came with a July 4 special that left many shaken. The clip opens with Trump dancing to the Village People’s YMCA, then cuts to him exiting Air Force One, greeted by cheering construction workers, before returning to more footage of Trump, much to the chagrin of those compelled to watch.

The report further noted that the narration heralds the day with a patriotic fervor likened to authoritarian regimes: “Happy Birthday America!” “Today we celebrate 249 years of American liberty, freedom and strength and we’re doing it under the fearless leadership of President Donald J. Trump, who reminds us every day what true patriotism looks like as he works tirelessly to make America great again.”

Critics among the staff have dubbed the presentation “North Korea‑worthy,” according to the report.

Meanwhile, many already felt demoralized by deep cuts tied to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative and a policy shift prioritizing fossil fuel development over conservation.

A National Park Service employee told The Beast: “I have never seen a more blatant and deplorable display of propaganda on behalf of the Trump administration.”

Adding insult to injury, they note, “They even called for the USA to celebrate the 4th ‘the MAGA way!’

https://www.alternet.org/propaganda-interior-department

Alternet: ‘Grab everyone by the neck’: Presidential historian reveals Trump’s chief second-term goal

President Donald Trump is taking a much more direct, hands-on approach to governing in his second term compared to his first four years in the White House, according to a new report.

In a Wednesday article, the Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey and Annie Linskey reported that the second Trump administration is moving with a decidedly faster tempo given that there are far fewer people in the Trump White House today who are willing to rein in his most impulsive decision-making. This has led to Trump making numerous unprecedented moves, including his attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors and teeing up a showdown with the Supreme Court — something that has never been done in the Fed’s 112-year history.

Despite his status as a term-limited commander-in-chief constrained by the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from running for another four years, Trump nonetheless keeps “Trump 2028” campaign hats on display in the Oval Office and shows them off to visitors. Earlier this week, he toyed with the idea of being a “dictator,” saying that while some unnamed “people” had told him that they might “like” to have a dictator, he didn’t like dictators and refused to describe himself as such (Trump said during his 2024 campaign that he would be a dictator, “but only on Day One.”)

The Journal reported that Trump is more “in the weeds” in the day-to-day operations of federal agencies, ordering his Cabinet secretaries to make certain hiring and firing decisions and floating various ideas. He also reportedly spends much more time at the White House, “blaring music with doors of the Oval Office open, working later into the evening and telling his advisers that he is having fun.”

This is a sharp contrast to his first term, where he was dogged by multiple investigations like former DOJ Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump also lamented about his treatment at the hands of the Federal Reserve and the Kennedy Center after his first election. Trump has since commandeered the Kennedy Center and installed himself as chairman, with little to no pushback from his inner circle. Even his chief of staff, Susie Wiles (who managed his 2024 campaign), has taken a more lenient approach to her boss, insisting that her role is to manage the staff rather than the president.

According to Douglas Brinkley, who is a presidential historian at Rice University, Trump’s ultimate goal is “having control over all American institutions, adding: “He seems to want to grab everyone by the neck and say ‘I’m in charge.’”

“I think he’s learned there is not much that can really stop him from what he wants,” Marc Short, who was Trump’s first-term director of legislative affairs, told the Journal.

https://www.alternet.org/trump-second-term-goal

Daily Caller: Abigail Spanberger Says One Of Her First Moves As Governor Would Be Rolling Back Cooperation With ICE

Democratic Virginia gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger said one of her first moves in office would be rolling back Virginia law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Spanberger, if elected in November, has vowed to rescind an executive order issued by term-limited Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin that requires state police and local jails to assist ICE efforts in the commonwealth. The Democratic nominee’s pledge to scrap state law enforcement’s work with federal immigration authorities comes as ICE has conducted more than 4,000 arrests across Virginia since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term.

“I would rescind his executive order, yes,” Spanberger told the Virginia Mercury in an interview published Wednesday. “The idea that we would take local police officers or local sheriff’s deputies in amid all the things that they have to do, like community policing or staffing our jails or investigating real crimes, so that they can go and tear families apart … that is a misuse of those resources.”

Spanberger served three terms in the House of Representatives between 2019 and 2025 prior to running for governor. She notably opposed House Republicans’ comprehensive border security legislation known as H.R.2, the Secure the Border Act, in May 2023. The bill would have required the federal government to resume construction of the southern border wall, placed new restrictions on the asylum process and blocked illegal immigrants from the U.S. workforce by mandating employers to verify the legal status of their staff.

Republican Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for governor, torched Spanberger’s vow to not assist the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown.

“Abigail Spanberger voted against the Laken Riley Act after Laken was murdered by an illegal immigrant,” Earle-Sears wrote on the social media platform X on Wednesday. “Now she says her first act as governor will be to stop State Police from helping ICE.”

“Abigail puts criminals over Virginians,” Earle-Sears continued. “Every. Single. Time.”

Earle-Sears has previously blasted Spanberger for organizing a campaign rally in April during which Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid participated. The northern Virginia sheriff has refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

Youngkin also excoriated Spanberger in a post on the social media platform X on Wednesday.

“In her very first act as governor, @SpanbergerForVA promises to turn Virginia into a sanctuary state for dangerous illegal immigrants,” Youngkin wrote. “@winwithwinsome promises to keep dangerous criminals off our streets.”

“Could the choice be any more clear, Virginia?” Youngkin added. “Your safety is on the ballot this November.”

The race between Spanberger and Earle-Sears has significantly tightened ahead of the final sprint of the November gubernatorial contest, according to a Republican-aligned Co/efficient poll released Wednesday.

The pollster found that Earle-Sears trails Spanberger 43% to 48% with 7% of voters undecided. The survey of 1,025 likely voters was conducted from Aug. 23 to Aug. 26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.06%.

“Earle-Sears is nipping at Spanberger’s heels in a race the Democrats thought they had in the bag,” a press release from the Earle-Sears campaign touting the survey’s results states.

A spokesperson for Spanberger did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

https://dailycaller.com/2025/08/27/abigail-spanberger-virginia-governor-ice-immigration-enforcement

Newsweek: Trump admin plans new time limit for foreign students in US

The Trump administration is proposing new four-year time limits on student, exchange and media visa holders, as part of plans to tighten up immigration rules.

In a proposal filed in the Federal Register on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its intention to modify the F, J, and I visa categories.

“If enacted, this rule would create additional uncertainty, intrude on academic decision-making, increase bureaucratic hurdles and risk deterring international students, researchers and scholars from coming to the United States,” Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, told Newsweek.

Why It Matters

Student visa holders have been a focus of immigration enforcement under the second Trump administration, with many having their legal status revoked and interviews for new applicants paused for several weeks. This latest proposal revisits a plan from President Donald Trump‘s first term.

What To Know

The DHS said that, unlike many other visa types, F, J, and I visas currently do not have time limits; instead, they require holders to adhere to the rules of their respective visas. Under the new plan, four-year limits would be imposed, aimed at stopping lengthy visa overstays.

The three categories cover foreign students, exchange visitors—such as summer workers, au pairs, and medical students—and those in foreign media.

The DHS memo stated that part of the reason for seeking the new limits was due to the “dramatic rise” in these visas, with F visas (used by international students) increasing from 260,000 in 1981 to 1.6 million in 2023.

J visas (used by some students, academics, medical professionals, au pairs and other such visitors) experienced a 250 percent increase between 1985 and 2023, rising from 141,200 to approximately 500,000, while I visas (for media) also doubled during the same period.

The DHS stated that this posed a challenge to its agencies when it came to monitoring individuals in the U.S. with such visa types, and that a fixed-term approach would be more effective in managing immigration numbers.

For student visa holders, under the new proposal, they would have to either apply for a change in status at the end of their term (i.e., for an H-1B or other work-based visa) or ask for an extension of their F-1 visa if they have not completed their studies. Similar parameters would apply to I and J visa holders.

The Trump administration’s efforts to withdraw legal status for students and hold up interviews at the embassy stage have faced and lost to legal challenges in recent months, with student and exchange visitor advocates arguing that these programs deliver significant benefits to the U.S. economy.

What People Are Saying

Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, told Newsweek: “The proposed rule is yet another unnecessary and counterproductive measure targeting international students and scholars. It would require them to repeatedly submit additional applications just to remain in the country and fulfill requirements of their academic programs—imposing significant burdens on students, colleges and universities, and federal agencies alike.”

A DHS Spokesperson, in a statement shared with Newsweek“For too long, past Administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the U.S. virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging U.S. citizens. This new proposed rule would end that abuse once and for all by limiting the amount of time certain visa holders are allowed to remain in the U.S., easing the burden on the federal government to properly oversee foreign students and history.”

What Happens Next

DHS will now welcome comments and feedback on the proposals. When the idea was floated in 2020, over 32,000 comments were submitted, many of which were against the idea, which was subsequently scrapped by the Biden administration.

This makes zero sense to me. The longer students are here, the more educated & skilled they presumably become, and we should want them to stay longer … perhaps permanently.

https://www.newsweek.com/student-exchange-visa-changes-proposal-trump-administration-2120179

Alternet: ‘Not joking’: Ex-Trump official warns he privately ‘waxes poetic’ about dictators he admires

During a White House press conference in late August, President Donald Trump addressed accusations that he is acting like a “dictator.”

Trump told reporters, “A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator.’ I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense, and a smart person.”

One of Trump’s targets is Miles Taylor, who served the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during Trump’s first presidency but is now an outspoken critic. The Never Trump conservative, who is facing a federal investigation, regards Trump as a dangerous authoritarian.

During a Wednesday morning, August 27 appearance on CNN, Taylor explained why he is zeroing on the line, “A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator.'”

“Look at what Trump said five years ago,” Taylor told CNN’s John Berman. “He said: When you are president of the United States, the authority is total — and that’s how it’s gotta be. And five years later, he’s still saying things that would indicate his interest in being a dictator. Now, I will tell you, having spent time personally with the man in his first Trump Administration, he would wax poetic in private about foreign dictators he admired. He was jealous of their ability to exert total control over their populations.”

Taylor continued, “That is the president of the United States we are seeing now. And he is not joking.”

Taylor was serving as DHS chief of staff under then-Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen when he anonymously wrote a New York Times op-ed that was published on September 5, 2018 and headlined, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” Years later, Taylor came out as the person who wrote it.

Taylor told Berman, “When he said he was going to be America’s retribution, people said no, he’s joking about that. When he said he was going to lock people up, people said he was joking. When he said he was going to send in the troops, people said nah, he’s joking. He’s doing all of those things, John.”

Watch the full video below or at this link.

https://www.alternet.org/trump-miles-taylor-cnn

Daily Beast: Hot Mic Catches Republican Saying Trump Is in the Epstein Files

Collins made a bombshell admission that he believes Trump’s name will be in the files.

MAGA lawmaker Mike Collins lobbed a political grenade into efforts from Team Trump to limit his exposure to fallout from the Epstein files.

Georgia Rep. Collins made a bombshell admission, that he believes Donald Trump’s name will be in the files, at a county GOP meeting, the Washington Examiner reported.

A constituent asked the MAGA lawmaker whether he believed Trump was in the files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide while in federal custody in New York City in August 2019 as he awaited trial on new sex trafficking charges.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s in there,” Collins said, without providing evidence, according to an audio clip of the exchange uploaded to YouTube, titled, “HOT MIC: Republican caught saying Trump IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES!”

The White House has repeatedly pushed back after reports emerged that Trump was told in May that he was in files related to Epstein. Trump and Epstein were once friendly, but the president said they fell out in 2004.

The Daily Beast contacted the White House and Collins for comment.

Trump “is in the Epstein files,” he wrote in a post on X as he and the president engaged in a bitter online feud. He alleged that “that is the real reason they have not been made public.” Musk signed the post off by writing: “Have a nice day, DJT!”

Musk added in a follow-up post: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

At the time, Trump brushed off the claims in an interview with NBC News.

“That’s called ‘old news.’ That’s been old news. That has been talked about for years. Even Epstein’s lawyer said I had nothing to do with it. It’s old news,” the president said.

Officials in the first Trump administration determined that Epstein’s death was a suicide, but conspiracy theories that he was killed to shield high-profile individuals have proliferated nonetheless.

The Trump administration, in February, declassified and released files related to Epstein, but they were highly redacted and did not offer major revelations. The FBI said in a July memo that a “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hot-mic-catches-republican-saying-trump-is-in-the-epstein-files