In the Free State of Florida, we’ve got a lock on hokey,
So if Donald Trump wants something done, we say okey-dokey.
“Alligator Alcatraz” was really neat-o
And then we built the “Deportation Depot,”
But we saved the best playful name for last with “Panhandle Pokey.”
Pensito IllustrationOperating in a legal gray area that deserves its own Catch-22,
Alligator Alcatraz has found some loopholes to latch onto.
Florida built it, but can’t enforce immigration;
Feds run it, but shirk environmental regulation.
Meanwhile, prisoners live in cages sans the legal process they’re due.
Alligator Alcatraz (ABC News)
In advertising, a catchy name makes all the difference, and so it is with Alligator Alcatraz, Florida’s newest and cruelest immigration detention center located on the edge of the Everglades.
A new poll by the Florida Communications and Research Hub found very high name recognition for the migrant center that opened in July, with 89% of respondents saying they were aware of the facility and 45% saying they had heard “a lot” about it.
But about 43% of respondents held a negative view of the center — 35% strongly negative. That compares to 34% who like the project and just 18% who strongly favor it.
Unsurprisingly, Republicans are more likely to approve of the detention center, with about 56% of GOP respondents having a positive view and 32% expressing strong support. About one in five GOP voters holds an unfavorable view.
Also unsurprisingly, 74% of Democrats view the center unfavorably, with 65% strongly disliking it.
About 47% of voters unaffiliated with either party view it unfavorably, compared to 32% who approve.
Predictably, Republicans and Democrats say they have heard different coverage of the facility. About 22% of Republicans say most of what they have heard about Alligator Alcatraz was positive, while 46% said the coverage was mixed. But 65% of Democrats and 43% of unaffiliated voters say the coverage they remember has been mostly negative.
Blue Rose Research surveyed more than 3,200 voters in web panels July 25-27. Pollsters report a 1.7% margin of error in the results.
Pensito IllustrationTrump likes Florida — his adopted state’s got pizzazz —
And Ron DeSantis and James Uthmeier are his kind of lads.
The boys built an ICE camp for Trump
In the heart of a dismal, dangerous swamp,
So it’s just hot, nasty and cruel enough, Trump’s Alligator Alcatraz.
Pundits say that Trump’s $5,000 midterm bribe was an overreach,
And they agree that if lies were a crime, he’d be impeached.
Despite all the dividend promises he’s made,
The fact is, not one has ever been paid,
So even before the midterms, he already owes us $8,000* each.
*$5000 stimulus checks via “DOGE dividend”; $2000 stimulus checks via a “tariff dividend”; $1000-plus checks via “savings” from expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”
— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.
“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”
— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.
“Donald Trump made over a thousand stock sales and purchases worth between $79m and $270m in July,” The Guardian reports. “His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, selling between $5m and $25m each on 20 July. That same day, he also sold up to $5m worth of Oracle and Costco stock, $500,000 to $1m in Nvidia, and bought up to $5m worth of shares in Intuit and Salesforce, among dozens of other transactions.”
“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.
A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.
“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.
Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.