What to know about 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Florida's immigration detention site in the Everglades

An immigration detention facility located at an isolated Everglades airfield surrounded by mosquito-, python- and alligator-filled swamplands is just days away from being operational. Florida officials are racing ahead with the construction of what they’ve dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” to help carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. But the construction of the facility in the remote and ecologically sensitive wetland about 45 miles west of downtown Miami is alarming human rights advocates and environmentalists. Native American tribal leaders also consider the area sacred. The plan has the backing of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which called the facility “innovative” and “cost-effective.”