Key to the marketing ploy underpinning Florida's detention camp in the Everglades is the alligator, portrayed by Republican leaders as a blood-thirsty prison guard ready to attack anyone who escapes.

Editor's note: The little-used airstrip in the Everglades that the state is using to build a detention center for immigrants, dubbed " Alligator Alcatraz ," is part of a storied history involving Palm Beach County at one point.

“Alligator Alcatraz” is the insulting name Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has given the inhumane detention center he has erected in the Everglades to house immigrants rounded up in the Trump administration’s draconian assault on allegedly undocumented people living in the United States.

This is one of many problems with illegal immigration: individuals are in our country without any way to verify their identity,’ a spokesperson for the agency that oversees the facility said

A detainee held at the migrant detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” is sharing details of his experience.

Don’t call it ‘Alligator Auschwitz,’ writes columnist Scott Maxwell. But do get informed about the human-rights allegations and secretive, no-bid contracts being handed out in Florida.

The remote facility in the Florida Everglades is expected to cost the state about $450 million annually to operate.

This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.