Alligator Alcatraz is Florida's great shame

[Zorro]

How can everyone not see?

One year ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a path toward restitution for boys who endured unspeakable torture. For decades, these boys were beaten and raped, spirits and bodies broken at the state’s notorious reform schools. Others were murdered on taxpayer dimes, their remains buried beneath shrouds of soil and reduced to ghastly archeological finds.

Those boys stole things. They were truant. They broke the law. But back then, just a year ago, society agreed that their offenses did not justify their fates. No matter what indiscretions these boys committed, they didn’t deserve to wake in hell with their humanity pulverized.

How, then, can we not see so clearly now?

Today, leaders are not even bothering to conceal their depravity as they gleefully launch Alligator Alcatraz in the service of pleasing a red devil daddy. They are funding campaigns by selling T-shirts that read, “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,” hawking branded golf balls and beer koozies, reducing public service to a dollar store. President Donald Trump clearly finds it hilarious, this sycophantic rush to kiss his toes. He can say anything he wants unscathed, unchallenged in any meaningful way, and he knows it. During a visit to the Everglades site Tuesday, he warned would-be escapees, “Don’t run in a straight line.”

This country and state’s Republican leaders have gone spiritually bankrupt. They do not care for the least among us. They do not welcome the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. They are callous, unsparing, rotten from the soul out.

https://www.tampabay.com/viewpoints/2025/07/02/alligator-alcatraz-florida-everglades-desantis-trump-krome-dozier/

[sop]

1. Did you read the "top four comments" at the link?

Three of the four commenters are in favor of Alligator Alcatraz. I run into Floridians like these every day.

(Edited to add the "top four comments" to this editorial)

- "I am grateful for your writing which makes it very clear that our own souls and spiritual well-being are diminished when we approve this kind of treatment of any human person. Especially for those of us who say we follow Jesus, his words are very poignant and compelling: 'For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'"

- "You are so wrong. This mess is totally on the Biden administration. Remember how they said the border was closed. You pick out the mistakes which are bound to happen when you have millions of people who broke the law. They have destroyed cities and taken money from needy citizens. They have committed horrendous crimes. My daughter in law is waiting her turn to join her husband from the Philippines. We had to get an immigration attorney. Self deport and apply legally. End of story. We are all for legal immigration. My grandparents were immigrants."

- "We'll help: Alligator Alcatraz was constructed to house immigrants who have dug both feet into American soil without authorization. Immigrants in the United States illegally. Florida's Alcatraz, new air-conditioned digs with fresh mattresses and showers and hot meals, will further offer clergy and exercise as their guest's dispositions are determined. Should one opt to spurn all these comforts and supports and commit another crime by busting loose, they may be subject to the law of the jungle. Humane or barbaric?"

- "There is no shame in obeying the law . That is what DeSantis is doing. I get being upset that the left lost the election , I get being upset that a true American who loves this country won and is making sure that the law is followed. This 4th of July In so proud to be a American."

[Zorro]

2. Most of the comments are against this shameful action

[sop]

3. The Tampa Bay Times is a paywall site, they chose to publish only these "top four comments."

The newspaper could have published the other comments, but they probably know their readership pretty well. Sadly, relying solely on conversations with friends and acquaintances here the last couple of days, the comments selected seem to represent the views of most Floridians.

[DonCoquixote]

4. this area is deadly

because there is literally nothing but alligators and swamp, because it is in the everglades, you know, that place which literally gives Florida it's drinking water. The only reason they have not built skyscrapers and suburbs all the way to keywest is because it is unfit for normal habituation.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. Don't forget the pythons

They're not native to the area, they're escaped and dumped "pets" that have made themselves at home there.

I'm all for putting the orange slime, Shady, DeSatan, the $$-man, ICE Barbie, some corrupt SCROTUS justices (AND their scheming wives!), and every other member of this administration in there, slamming the gates and locking them, and walking away. Give them the same due process they gave immigrants. Let them gifure out how to get out before the alligators, pythons and mosquitoes get them. Am I mean? No meaner than they are.

[Wonder Why]

6. Merde Lardo's occupant is the greatest shame followed by Rhonda.