July 1, 2025

Let's take a minute to process something called Alligator Alcatraz.

If that sounds like a direct-to-streaming Nicolas Cage film, I'm sad to inform you it is not. Alligator Alcatraz is a Florida detention center for migrants that was created with the express purpose of helping the Trump administration boost its mass deportation numbers. The facility is located in the Everglades, surrounded by the kind of deadly wildlife Trump once "joked" about using in the Rio Grande to deter border crossings. The project is no longer a joke and will use funds from FEMA. Alligator Alcatraz was built in a matter of days in the scorching Florida heat.

It's exactly the kind of migrant detention center that will surely crop up all over the country if Trump's domestic spending agenda passes, a scenario that seems all the more likely after today's disastrous vote.

—Inae Oh

Senate Votes to Cut $930 Billion From Medicaid

"This bill is about caviar over kids and hedge funds over health care."

BY JULIA MÉTRAUX

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