President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem recently received a tour of Governor Ron DeSantis‘s new immigration detention center in Florida, which DeSantis named “Alligator Alcatraz” due to its location in the Everglades where alligators are found in abundance.
The facility, which will cost approximate $450 million a year to run, includes 3,000 beds and is located near an airport.
Noem said after the tour that Alligator Alcatraz will serve as a model for more state-run migrant detention centers across the country. She said: “The locations we’re looking at are right by airport runways that will help give us an efficiency that we’ve never had before.”
COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 5, 2025
Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to @GovBraun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country.
If you are in…
Noem announced on Wednesday that the next detention center will be in Indiana, home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Indianapolis 500 is held. Noem is calling the new facility “The Speedway Slammer.”
The Homeland Secretary thanked Republican Governor Mike Braun for partnering with her agency “to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds.”
In a press release, Braun noted that “the Indiana Department of Correction is working with ICE to make available up to 1,000 beds at Miami Correctional Facility.”
The Miami Correctional Facility is a state prison located on the Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base, a civil airport/military base about 11 miles north of Kokomo, Indiana, which houses high-, medium-, and minimum-security inmates.
At full capacity, Miami can house 3,188 prisoners, making it the largest facility in the state of Indiana. (It’s called Miami because it’s in Miami County, Indiana.)
Indiana is not a safe haven for illegal immigration. We will fully partner with federal immigration authorities as they enforce the most fundamental laws of our country. pic.twitter.com/WyX7tzkjTr
— Governor Mike Braun (@GovBraun) August 1, 2025
Information about where the additional 1,000 beds for ICE will be located at the prison was not released. At Miami, the level-one inmates are housed outside of the prison fence in dormitory-style living units which can accommodate a maximum of 204 prisoners. The high- and medium-security facilities are inside the fence and hold the level-two, three, and four inmates in two-man cells.
Note: Since it’s opening, Alligator Alcatraz has also come under fire from attorneys claiming that both the Trump and DeSantis administrations are holding detainees without charges or access to immigration courts, violating their constitutional rights.
Former Director of Detention Policy and Planning for ICE, Kevin Landy, told CBS News: “Florida does not have the legal authority to detain undocumented immigrants in the absence of a contract with ICE.” He added: “A state government can’t do that.”
