Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsmax on Friday that the migrant detention facility that Florida is building in the Everglades – nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” – is a “fantastic idea.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier came up with the idea to convert the 17,000-acre Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into a detention center for illegal immigrants earlier this month and shared it with the White House in a video online.

On “Wake Up America,” McLaughlin said that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has requested the help of state and local governments “since the start of this administration.”

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