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.
From Trump’s “stolen election” lies, we can’t get no relief,
He carps on about stolen votes, but he never names the thief.
Somebody needs to tell this guy
Americans aren’t buying his lies,
And that he’s turned us into the United States of Disbelief.
“If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer.”
“We are done, Americans are done with endless conflict in the Middle East, spending trillions of dollars, American lives… this is insane and we have to call it for what it is.”
“The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas during President Donald Trump’s administration so far,” Fox News reports.
President Donald Trump is asking for $1,500,000 million for the military for next year. That’s close to $600 billion (adjusted for inflation) more than we were spending on the military in fiscal year 2025, before Trump took office, Alternet reports. This increase is huge by any measure. It comes to around $4,600 per household. It is around 8% of the total budget.
A new Emerson College survey of likely 2026 voters finds the Democrats with an 11-point advantage over the Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, leading 53% to 42%. President Trump holds a 39% job approval rating, consistent with the past two months, whereas his disapproval increased another point, to 57%.
A new American Research Group poll finds just 30% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 67% say they disapprove.
Wall Street Journal: “Around 40% of voters in the 2024 election said the economy was their top issue, far outstripping any other matter. And those voters favored Donald Trump by 60% to 38%. Many say they were moved by his pledges to tame inflation, rebuild U.S. infrastructure, cut red tape and trim government waste. … About a year and a half later, more voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy than approve, 61% to 35%, an average of polls by the Cook Political Report found this month.”