President Donald Trump traveled to Florida on Tuesday to tour what Republicans have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” a 5,000-bed immigration detention center built in a remote, hot, and disgustingly humid corner of the Everglades. The facility — a collection of plastic tents outfitted with bunk beds in literal cages — was built almost overnight on top of an abandoned airstrip in an area known as Alligator Alley.
Republicans have emphasized the amount of deadly wildlife surrounding the camp and the danger alligators and pythons might pose to any detained migrants who may attempt to escape. The state GOP is even selling disturbing, swamp-themed merchandise touting the project, and Trump on Tuesday said, “I guess that’s the concept,” to a question about whether undocumented immigrants will be eaten by alligators if they try to escape.
But so far, little has been said about how exactly the facility came to be.
As it turns out, two contractors who worked to quickly build out Alligator Alcatraz, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called a “one-stop shop” for detention, adjudication, and deportation of migrants, have been significant donors to DeSantis and Trump.
Trump and DeSantis, who were bitter rivals in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, toured Alligator Alcatraz together on Tuesday alongside Kristi Noem, who leads Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “Ron worked beautifully with Kristi and all of the people at Homeland Security and got it done in how many days, Ron?” Trump marveled.
Earlier Tuesday, Bloomberg News identified several contractors working on Alligator Alcatraz — a group of disaster relief firms selected by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, which is part of DeSantis’ administration.
Among the contractors is CDR Companies, which Bloomberg reported “will run medical services and did some site preparation.” CDR’s president Carlos Duart and businesses affiliated with his firm have made significant donations to DeSantis and Trump, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
CDR Enterprises donated $1 million in December 2023 to Fight Right Inc., a super PAC that supported DeSantis’ presidential campaign. Late last year, DeSantis announced he was appointing Duart to the board of trustees at Florida International University, and named his wife, Tina Vidal-Duart, to the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees.
Last June, CDR Maguire Inc. donated $400,000 to Right for America, a pro-Trump Super PAC. Duart donated $500,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in October. He also gave $148,000 in December to the Kennedy Victory Fund, helping RFK Jr. clear some of his campaign debt.
In January, CDR Enterprises contributed $500,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee.
Bloomberg reported that SLSCO Ltd., a construction company in Galveston, Texas, is also involved with Alligator Alcatraz, noting that the business had helped build parts of Trump’s border wall during his first term as president.
The firm is affiliated with brothers John, Todd, and William Sullivan. A company tied to the brothers, Sullivan Brothers Investments, donated $30,000 in 2022 to DeSantis’ state-level Super PAC, state records show.
CDR Companies and SLSCO did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Rolling Stone.
According to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, the contractors were selected from an existing pool of vendors already approved by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management — a move that allowed the state to bypass competitive bidding requirements. A heavily redacted planning document for the detention center obtained by Bloomberg indicated a desire to petition DHS to waive Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention standards to “streamline the setup of detention facilities.”
“We believe that the nature and vast scope of the illegal alien presence deserves a rethinking of detention processes and standards,” the document said.
It seems like DHS has embraced the idea. During Trump’s visit to the camp, Noem lauded the “unique” model Alligator Alcatraz could pioneer.
“Florida was unique in what they presented to us, and I would ask every other governor to do the exact same thing,” she said.
Trump is separately pushing to rebuild and reopen the original, infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay. On Tuesday, the president posted on Truth Social that he wants Alcatraz to serve as “something representative” to scare migrants.
He explained, “I saw a picture of ALCATRAZ looking so foreboding, and I said, ‘We’re going to look into renovating and rebuilding the famous ALCATRAZ Prison sitting high on the Bay, surrounded by sharks. What a symbol it is, and will be!’”
