‘Deport Depot’: Florida GOP Pulls Its Home Depot-Inspired Merch After Company Pushback

Photo via AP by: XNY/STAR MAX/IPx 2025 7/15/25 

The Florida Republican Party has pulled its “Deport Depot” merchandise created after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) dubbed the state’s latest migrant detention center, “Deportation Depot,” The Washington Post reported Monday.

The GOP logo featured stenciled white letters on a bright orange background that mimicked the established logo used by home improvement retailer Home Depot.

“We don’t allow any organization to use our branding or logo for their commercial purposes, and we did not approve this use,” a Home Depot spokeswoman told The Post.

Even though Florida’s GOP removed the baseball caps, T-shirts, mugs, and drink insulators from its website, the organization continued to defend its branding.

“RPOF’s limited-run products here were not affiliated with The Home Depot,” the organization told WaPo in a statement. “The designs on the products are a playful commentary supporting Florida’s ‘Deportation Depot’ immigration center, and they are parodic, artistic, and non-commercial speech protected by RPOF’s First Amendment right to engage in political speech.”

Home Depot has been caught up in the deportation controversy across the country, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out raids in the business’s parking lots where day laborers gather looking for work.

Last week, DeSantis announced plans to turn a state prison into a 1,300-bed migrant detention center that he named “Deportation Depot.” The facility would join Florida’s other deportation center near the Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

That facility has its own merch advertised on the Florida GOP website, featuring artwork of an alligator and a large snake. President Donald Trump mused in July when the facility was opened that the native wildlife could act as a deterrent for inmates trying to escape.

“You know, snakes are fast, but alligators — we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, OK, if they escape prison. How to run away: don’t run in a straight line, run like this,” Trump said, making a zigzag motion with his hand. “And you know what? Your chances go up about one percent, OK? Not a good thing.”

Read The Washington Post story here.

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