Trail guide John Kalafarski wears a bug shirt to fend off mosquitoes as he walks a trail in the Everglades near the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz.” Kalafarski and others who live and work in the area think people have a misconception about the Everglades. They call it home. By PHOTO BY AL DIAZ

"Alligator Alcatraz" is the name posted in front of the hastily converted immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades.

J une 19 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announces plans for a migrant detention center in the Everglades via X. The state has declared its official name to be Alligator Alcatraz. June 21 Protesters begin gathering near the proposed site at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport as trucks carrying supplies and fill dirt stream in.