Florida Republicans are selling 'Alligator Alcatraz' T-shirts

Kirby Wilson, Tampa Bay Times on Jun 27, 2025

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Top Florida Republicans seem to be relishing their moment in the swamp.

On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis continued his publicity blitz around the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility the state is building in the Everglades. And on X, the Florida GOP advertised merchandise branded by the facility’s name.

“Grab our merch to support tough-on-crime borders!” the official X account of the Republican Party of Florida posted Friday morning. “Limited supply — get yours before the gators do!”

The official Florida GOP store now sells $30 “Alligator Alcatraz” T-shirts, along with a $27 hat and a $15 set of beer koozies.

Meanwhile, Fox News on Friday aired a piece showing DeSantis taking Fox News host Steve Doocy around the Miami-Dade facility site.

In a walk-and-talk interview, DeSantis explained the need for more detention beds.

“There needs to be more ability to intake, process and then deport,” DeSantis said. “This answers that.”

Since Trump took office, attempted illegal border crossings in the southwest have plummeted. The Trump team has poured resources into detaining immigrants from within the U.S. and moving them through the federal immigration detention system.

For months, there’s been a growing frustration among some conservatives about the pace of deportations. Earlier this month, a Trump official told Time that the current administration had deported more than 207,000 people. On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump promised to deport more than 10 million.

Immigration advocates have criticized the Trump administration for moving against undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. Federal immigration raids at workplaces have sparked at times violent protests in recent weeks in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

DeSantis says Florida is erecting its Everglades detention facility — which will cost about $450 million per year — to expedite the process of removing those targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.

“They’re not going to be hurting for anything. There’s going to be A/C, there’s going to be things that everybody needs,” DeSantis told Fox News. “There’s medical here. It’s being done right, it’s being done by the book.”