Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may have run against each other for president last year, in a contest that was bitter and hostile at times. The two men have sometimes been at odds since Trump came back to the White House, on everything from the specifics of immigration policy to the question of who Trump will endorse to succeed DeSantis as governor.
But they reunited on Tuesday, for the common cause of locking immigrants in cages.
DeSantis recently opened a migrant detention center in the Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” perhaps as a nod to Trump’s musings this spring about reopening the actual Alcatraz as a prison. Trump visited the facility on Tuesday, accompanied by DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for a photo opportunity in front of the cages.
Trump in front of the migrant cages at DeSantis’s camp: “Biden wanted me in here, that son of a bitch.” pic.twitter.com/CwCAEN57PM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 1, 2025
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Trump arrived at the facility the day before the first detainees were scheduled to arrive there.
“Ron worked beautifully with Kristi (Noem) and all of the people at Homeland Security and got it done in how many days, Ron?”,” Trump said.
Ah yes let’s do a photo op in front of the cages and have a little laugh….disgusting pic.twitter.com/3EBU4X0HD9
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) July 1, 2025
“Eight days, a new facility was up and running,” the governor said, per CNN.
“What’ll happen is you’ll bring people in there, they ain’t going anywhere once they’re there unless you want them to go somewhere, because, good luck getting to civilization,” DeSantis said earlier in the day at a news conference. “So the security is amazing — natural and otherwise.”
Quite a few people on social media had things to say about the new facility, and especially the picture of Trump in front of the cages:
The inside of trump’s new Alcatraz hut looks like an animal shelter. Uses chainlink fencing to make little cells the same size an as in a Animal Shelter. This is deliberate & demeaning cruelty for cruelty’s sake pic.twitter.com/CfZ6EmCSYx
— Dude, just no (@dhambrick63) July 1, 2025
Such big beautiful cages with big beautiful bunks. Some say the best beautiful bunks ever and the best fences ever alligator Alcatraz is magical. Some say it’s the best attention center.https://t.co/6c1gf3zmUk
— DAVE (@DAVE34315027186) July 1, 2025
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
