Florida bishop: No problem with removing criminals, but ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is troubling

Rows of bunk beds line the interior of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility in the Florida Everglades, a repurposed training center now designated for holding immigrants. President Donald Trump appears in the background during a July 1, 2025, visit to the site, which has drawn criticism from Bishop Frank Dewane and other Catholic leaders. / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Jul 9, 2025 / 12:06 pm (CNA).

A Florida bishop is criticizing recent statements from public officials supporting a new detention facility for illegal immigrants in the Everglades as “obviously intentionally provocative” and degrading to the dignity of people who will be held there. 

“Decency requires that we remember individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives,” Venice, Florida, Bishop Frank Dewane said in a written statement last week. 

The Diocese of Venice in southwestern Florida includes the cities of Fort Myers and Sarasota. It also includes an underused training facility and airport that state and federal officials are turning into a detention facility for up to 1,000 people in the country illegally, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” 

Without naming him, Dewane criticized Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican who served as chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis until DeSantis appointed him attorney general in February to fill a vacancy.

Uthmeier posted a video to social media last month touting the virtues of using the training facility, which is in the middle of the Everglades, to house immigrants here illegally.

“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there’s not much waiting for ‘em other than pythons and alligators. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” Uthmeier said in the video, posted June 19.

Dewane expressed concern about the potential living conditions at the site and about the ability of Catholic clerics to provide spiritual services to inmates and staff there. 

He also chided Uthmeier for what he suggested was disrespect to people who may be held there. 

“It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of ‘alligators and pythons’ at the Collier-Dade facility,” Dewane said in the statement, released July 3. “I do not speak so glibly in regard to convicted felons in Florida Department of Corrections facilities.” 

He also criticized the way President Donald Trump’s administration has gone about removing illegal immigrants from the United States, describing it as overreach. 

“It is alarming to see enforcement strategies, which treat all unauthorized immigrants as dangerous criminals. Masked, heavily armed agents who fail to identify themselves in enforcement activities are surprising. So is an apparent lack of due process in deportation proceedings in recent months,” Dewane said.

The bishop did endorse one major goal of Trump concerning immigration enforcement.

“In describing immigration enforcement initiatives, the Trump administration has stated its focus is on removing criminal aliens who endanger public safety. This concern is widely shared. There is no argument with this,” Dewane said.

“However,” he added, “the need for just immigration enforcement and the government’s obligation to carry it out must be undertaken in a way that is targeted, humane, and proportional.”

Dewane noted that Trump has said in recent weeks that his administration plans to offer passes to foreign farmworkers who don’t have legal residency in the United States. American farmers have said they are suffering from a work shortage and that recent immigration raids have further decreased their supply of labor.

“We’re going to sort of put the farmers in charge,” Trump said during a July 3 rally. 

“We don’t want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they’re doing right now,” the president said. 

Dewane said the president’s recent remarks on farmworkers reflect what the bishop called “a growing recognition that many, indeed most immigrants, even those who are not lawfully present, are not dangerous but peaceful, law-abiding, and hardworking contributors to our communities and to our economy.” 

The prelate called for “serious reforms” of the country’s immigration system that “preserve safety and the integrity of our borders, as well as to accommodate needs for labor, family stability, and the ability of those at risk of grave harm to migrate with due process,” without mentioning specific policies. 

Dewane’s statement includes a link to a January statement on immigration from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that says, in part, that “enforcement measures should focus on those who present genuine risks and dangers to society, particularly efforts to reduce gang activity, stem the flow of drugs, and end human trafficking.” 

The bishops’ conference’s statement also calls for providing “legal processes for longtime residents and other undocumented immigrants to regularize their status.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.