Sept. 8 (UPI) -- State officials in Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska are taking cues from Florida's so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" to expand detention space for immigrants.
More than 61,000 immigrants are in detention in the United States as of the latest update on Aug. 24 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University. About 70% of detainees have no criminal convictions.
President Donald Trump has claimed through his campaign and into his current term in the White House that his immigration policy will focus on detaining and deporting criminals he deems "the worst of the worst." According to TRAC Reports, only 1.55% of new deportation orders in fiscal year 2025 were based on alleged criminal activity.
After Florida's pop-up detention facility in the Everglades, "Alligator Alcatraz," garnered the attention and support of federal officials, including the president, officials in other states have proposed their own plans to detain immigrants.
ICE's plan to expand detention
