Trump Teases Reopening of OG, Shark-Guarded Alcatraz After Visit to Florida Knock-Off: ‘Conceptual Work Started Six Months Ago…Lots of Promise!’

President Donald Trump tours “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump teased his plans for reopening the OG, shark-guarded Alcatraz on Tuesday afternoon after visiting the Floridian knock-off, “Alligator Alcatraz,” that his administration plans to use to detain illegal immigrants earlier in the day.

“Because of the Violence and Criminality I have seen due to the Open Border Policy of Sleepy Joe Biden, in particular allowing millions of people into our Country who shouldn’t be here, I wanted something representative to show how we fight back, and then, it happened, I saw a picture of ALCATRAZ looking so foreboding, and I said, ‘We’re going to look into renovating and rebuilding the famous ALCATRAZ Prison sitting high on the Bay, surrounded by sharks. What a symbol it is, and will be!'” wrote Trump in a somewhat wistful Truth Social post that concluded with the commander-in-chief declaring that “Conceptual work started six months ago, and various prison development firms are looking at doing it with us. Still a little early, but lots of promise!”

Before leaving to visit “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades on Tuesday, Trump fielded a question about whether the “idea” behind it was that inmates there would be deterred from escaping by the risk that the surrounding wildlife would pose to them.

“I guess that’s the concept. This is not a nice business! I guess that’s the concept,” confirmed Trump. “If you, 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. And you know what? Your chances go up about one percent, OK? Not a good thing.”

Trump first publicly flirted with the idea of reopening the original Alcatraz in a May Truth Social post in which he argued that “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”