It's official: Alligator Alcatraz is not a nickname. It's Florida's name for detention site

Ana Ceballos, Miami Herald on Jul 1, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Alligator Alcatraz is not just a moniker designed to sell political merchandise. It is actually the official name of the state-run immigration detention facility that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration built to help detain more people caught in President Donald Trump’s immigration sweeps.

“Yes, it is the official name,” Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, said in an email to the Herald/Times.

The name has already inspired the Florida Republican Party to sell shirts, hats and koozies with the what appears to be AI-generated images of a prison with gators and pythons. Uthmeier, a DeSantis appointee, is also selling “Alligator Alcatraz” gear – including bumper stickers, golf balls and coffee mugs that say “Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide” – to raise political cash for his 2026 election.

Now, it appears that branding will also appear on official state government paperwork.

The speed with which the facility was built has created confusion on whether “Alligator Alcatraz” was an official name or a branding effort.

Conservative social media personalities, like Benny Johnson, even shopped alternatives for a name. On Tuesday morning, Johnson asked his 3.7 million followers on X if they preferred “Alligator Alcatraz” or “Gator GITMO” for the name.

But according to Uthmeier’s office Alligator Alcatraz will be the name. And the state of Florida is already handing out “official Alligator Alcatraz merch” to conservative influencers, including caps with a caricature of an alligator, according to a video posted by Johnson on X.