Prison fetishism and America’s new concentration camps

On August 22, 2025, a federal judge ruled that operations must cease at the Everglades Detention Facility, an immigrant detention camp known colloquially as “Alligator Alcatraz.” The camp, a product of Donald Trump’s draconian immigration crackdown and the toadying of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, was championed by America’s far-right, while activists and opponents have levelled stark criticisms and protests regarding the facility’s exceptionally harsh conditions. Indeed, in July 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump Administration, alleging violations of constitutional rights of prisoners at the camp:

“[The plaintiffs] challenge the government’s restriction of access to counsel, and their inability to file legal documents needed for detainees’ release from custody. The government has banned in-person legal visitation, any confidential phone or video communication, and confidential exchange of written documents.

These restrictions violate the First and Fifth Amendment rights of people being detained, as well as the First Amendment rights of legal service organizations and law firms with clients held at the facility.

Detainees and members of Congress who have visited the site report abysmal conditions, including searing hot temperatures, heavy mosquito presence, flooding inside the tents, lack of access to water, backed-up toilets and sewage (detainees have described being forced to manually unclog toilets using their bare hands), inadequate food, and denial of religious rights.
American Civil Liberties Union, “Groups sue Trump administration over lack of access to counsel for people held at Florida’s notorious Everglades Immigration detention Center | American Civil Liberties Union.” (link) 23 July 2025.

The same month, Amnesty International called on DeSantis to close the camp, as well:

Immigration detention is cruel, unnecessary, and rife with abuses. This facility’s intentional cruelty is meant to criminalize and strike fear in immigrant communities. The facility is also located within the Everglades, a fragile ecosystem and one of the state’s most ecologically sensitive areas. I am concerned about the impact of pollution, water quality, and efforts to restore the Everglades and protect endangered species. 

“Alligator Alcatraz” is a human rights disaster. As Governor, you have the power and responsibility to protect the lives and dignity of people in Florida. You must take immediate action to close this facility and ensure that the individuals detained inside are released back into their communities, where they can navigate their immigration cases supported by lawyers and outside of detention. You must also end Florida’s laws that criminalize its immigrant residents and end its participation in President Trump’s mass incarceration and deportation machine.
Amnesty International, “USA: Shut Down ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ – Amnesty International.” 25 July 2025.

Despite the outcry over civil liberties and humanitarian concerns, the first concerted effort by the United States judiciary to close the camp came not in response to the abject human suffering of its approximately 350 detainees, but instead as a result of environmental concerns raised by regional organizations.

“US District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe who are concerned about the impact the facility will have on the environmentally sensitive area. . .
“The project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area,” Williams said in the order.
Lighting, fencing and “generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project” and added to Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport must be removed within 60 days of the order, Williams said, effectively shutting the facility that’s become a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown…
“No new detainees can be brought to ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ which a federal judge is effectively shutting down.” CNN.com. 22 August 2025.

The injunction was immediately met with defiance by DeSantis and the Trump Administration. A DeSantis spokesperson seemingly – or otherwise unwittingly – invoked Captain Bligh in response to the decision:

“The deportations will continue until morale improves,” DeSantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi said in response to the judge’s ruling.
“Florida Must Stop Expanding ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Immigration Center, Judge Says.” PBS News, 22 Aug. 2025.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin derided the injunction, characterizing it as an attack on Trump’s agenda.

“This ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade. It is another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
“No new detainees can be brought to ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ which a federal judge is effectively shutting down.” CNN.com. 22 August 2025.

Despite the right’s righteous indignation and political posturing, it appears that Alligator Alcatraz will effectively cease operations in the near future as per reports from witnesses in the area.

“…[according to] Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, volunteers monitoring the site have seen at least three buses containing detainees leaving the facility. “It’s a relief that the state appears to be phasing out operations … in compliance with the judge’s order,” she says. “When the last detainee leaves, the state should turn off the lights and shut the door behind them, because it’s not an appropriate place for a detention center.”
Allen, Greg. “Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Facility to Be Empty ‘within a Few Days.’” NPR, 28 Aug. 2025.

On its face, the imminent demise of Alligator Alcatraz seems like a positive development in the ongoing struggle against fascism in America. However, this prison camp is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg with respect to the Trump Administration’s capitalization on America’s longstanding penchant for mass incarceration. The camp follows in the traditions of some of the most abhorrent miscarriages of justice in American history, including:

the confinement of Native Americans to “reservations”;
the internment of Japanese-Americans under the so-called “Alient Enemies Act”;
the Clinton-era crime bills;
Joe Arpaio’s infamous “Tent City” in Maricopa County, Arizona;
the rise of “supermax” prisons in the late 20th Century. 

Even as operations at Alligator Alcatraz draw to a close, plans are underway for a new, even larger immigrant detention facility in Bunker Hill, Indiana. Dubbed “The Speedway Slammer” for its proximity to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the camp will hold approximately 1,000 migrants. The Department of Homeland Security announced the project in early August, employing Trumpites’ typical toxic rhetoric and dehumanizing language.

“…The Speedway Slammer will house some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens arrested by ICE.

This agreement was made possible by the One Big Beautiful Bill. This law fully funded the 287(g) program and provided funding to secure 80,000 new beds for ICE to utilize when detaining and deporting the worst of the worst.

COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds,” said Secretary Noem.”

“Thanks to Governor Braun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the CBP Home App.”
U.S. Department of Homeland Security; “The speedway slammer: A new partnership with DHS and the State of Indiana to expand detention space: Homeland security.” (link) (5 August 2025).

Additionally, the Trump Administration recently opened a new immigrant detention camp on the premises of the military base at Fort Bliss, Texas. The base will reportedly be the largest such facility to date, projecting a census of 5,000 inmates once fully operational.

“Fort Bliss, in El Paso, will hold up to 5,000 people in the base’s new tent camp. The military base is home to 90,000 service members and their families. Opened at the height of the Texas summer, where temperatures regularly soar above 100 degrees and sandstorms are frequent, detainees are at serious risk of heat-related illness and other harsh conditions. In response, local elected officials in El Paso have already passed a resolution demanding transparency and accountability from the federal government.

Built behind the walls of a military installation and away from public view, the facility is a calculated move to militarize immigration enforcement, reduce transparency, and fast-track deportations with minimal accountability.”
Gassama, Haddy. “Fort Bliss Immigration Camp Sparks Backlash Over Militarized Detention.” American Civil Liberties Union, 20 Aug. 2025.

While undoubtedly an alarming trend, it is further disheartening that some Americans have enthusiastically embraced the Trumpites’ expanding use of mass incarceration. During its short life, Alligator Alcatraz became a tourist destination for Trump supporters, who gleefully gathered at highway signs for group selfies.

At least one Republican candidate even invoked imagery related to the Auschwitz concentration camp in a campaign post for social media. In late July, Kyle Langford, a fringe candidate in the race for California gubernatorial race, posted a photo of himself in front of the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp with a sinister caption:

Republican Kyle Langford shared a photo of himself superimposed over the entrance to Auschwitz with the caption, “My 0% Unemployment Plan.”

The photo includes the “Arbeit macht frei (Work makes one free)” gate, which prisoners saw as they arrived at the camp during World War II. More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered at Auschwitz. . . 

In response to the pushback to his original post, Langford said he “wasn’t joking” about it and, “I think it is exactly what is needed to stabilize California and keep people safe.”

He also thanked the Auschwitz Memorial for what he called a “massive shoutout,” adding, “My German ancestors smile upon me.”
“California gubernatorial candidate criticized for Auschwitz post.” KTLA. July 28, 2025. 

Those who welcome Trumpism’s mounting utilization of mass incarcerations are, at best, uninformed and, at worst, enthusiastically complicit in a forthcoming humanitarian disaster. Moreover, the time is rapidly approaching at which the Trumpites will expand their program of mass incarceration to include not just so-called “criminals” and immigrants, but political opponents as well. Indeed, on August 25, 2025, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller – also the chief architect of Trump’s fascist agenda – called the Democratic Party a veritable criminal enterprise:

“The Democrat party does not fight for, care about or represent American citizens. It is an entity devoted exclusively to the defense of hardened criminals, gangbangers, and illegal alien killers and terrorists. The Democrat party is not a political party. It is a domestic, extremist organization.
Izzo, Jack. “Stephen Miller Called Democratic Party a ‘domestic, Extremist Organization.’” Snopes. 30 Aug. 2025

As we have previously argued, an organized anti-fascist resistance is sorely needed in America at this point in history, and it is the responsibility of all Marxist-Leninists to support such efforts. But time and the freedom to act are wearing thin, and there is still much struggle ahead.