4 November 6-12, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | 4 MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ WASHINGTON, D.C. MINI-MAR-A-LAGO? RENDERINGS OF TRUMP’S $250M EAST WING BALLROOM LOOK...FAMILAR. BY B. SCOTT MCLENDON P resident Donald Trump has al- ready brought Florida man vibes to the White House with his un- predictable, chaos-sowing com- ments and an apparent love for wading into controversy. Now, renderings of his contentious East Wing renovations beg the question: Is he molding the White House into a mirror image of his South Florida es- tate? Trump and Republicans have boasted that donors will fund the $250 million project, which will provide future presidents with an upgraded site to host foreign dignitaries at the White House. But Democrats and other critics argue he bulldozed a historic govern- ment building to mold the White House into a Washington, D.C. version of his gaudy South Florida estate. “The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world, yet the White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance,” according to a statement from the White House website. “The White House State Ball- room will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.” But the stark white and gold design looks eerily similar to the 20,000-square-foot ball- room at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago. At 18 acres, the White House is actually quite similar in size to Mar-a-Lago (17 acres). But the actual White House structure, as it stands after the demolition, is about 8,000 square feet smaller than the estate at Mar-a- Lago, meaning Trump may decide there’s plenty of undeveloped area left for a golf course on the White House grounds. [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Renderings of Trump’s new East Wing ballroom look eerily similar to the ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Photo of Donald Trump by Alex Wong/Getty Images, Photo of White House by Roger W via Flickr, Photo of golf course by Tim Keegan via Flickr, collage by New Times ▼ ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ “FUCK ICE” SOMEONE TAGGED FDOT’S ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ SIGNS. BY ALEX DELUCA S ince Florida opened the controversial Alligator Alcatraz immigration deten- tion site in the middle of the Everglades this past summer, the road signs outside the fa- cility have become somewhat of a tourist draw. Visitors have regularly pulled over to snap selfies with the blue and green signs that read “Alliga- tor Alcatraz,” some even bringing their kids along for the photo op. Now, after months of the Trump administra- tion ramping up its aggressive anti-immigration efforts — including at Alligator Alcatraz — those same signs have drawn a more confrontational type of attention. Photos shared with New Times show at least one of the signs recently spray-painted with the words “FUCK ICE” in bright red. Miccosukee tribal leader Betty Osceola, who has spent months protesting the facility, says she saw the words appear on two different “Alli- gator Alcatraz” signs — one east of the site and one to the west — several days ago. On October 27, the X (formerly Twitter) ac- count Solidarity South Florida (@solidaritysfl) shared a photo of another “Alligator Alcatraz” sign tagged again with the words “FUCK ICE,” but in a slightly more legible form. “Spotted in the Everglades #FuckICE,” reads the post. Osceola says that, from what she under- stands, workers were cleaning up the signs on October 27. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the state agency that man- ages the signs, didn’t respond to New Times’ emailed questions asking about when they might’ve been cleaned. In early July, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) quickly constructed the facility at the remote Dade- Collier Training and Transition Airport, a little- used airstrip in the middle of the swampy Everglades. Since detainees first arrived at Alligator Alca- traz, they’ve reported inhumane and unsanitary conditions, including relentless swarms of giant mosquitoes, extreme temperature swings, and inadequate medical care. Because immigra- tion enforcement is typically handled by the fed- eral government, and Alligator Alcatraz is run by the state, detainees held there haven’t appeared in the usual ICE database. Immigration attorneys, who say they’ve had limited access to their clients, have described it as a “black hole.” While a federal judge previously ordered the state to begin dismantling the site over en- vironmental concerns, an appeals court later ruled that it could remain open and the gov- ernment can resume sending detainees there. Following the initial injunction, however, the state began transferring many detainees out of the site. As of the end of August, the Miami Herald re- ported that of the estimated 1,800 detainees held there in July, hundreds had since “dropped off the grid.” A recent appeal in federal court by environ- mental groups, requesting that the detention center be officially shuttered, was paused last week due to the government shutdown. [email protected] IMMIGRATION ATTORNEYS HAVE DESCRIBED ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ AS A “BLACK HOLE.” ▼ SOUTH FLORIDA MISSION STATEMENT ADVOCATES SAY LATE-OCTOBER 287(G) SWEEP LED TO SPIKE IN DETENTIONS. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN I mmigration advocates noticed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in South Florida were bus- ier than usual this past weekend, following news that the U.S. Department of Home- land Security was preparing for an immi- gration enforcement operation in Miami. On Friday, New Times obtained emails showing that DHS planned a 287(g) opera- tion in Miami over the weekend, bringing in out-of-state deportation officers to assist ICE’s local Enforcement and Removal Oper- ations team. The messages offered few de- tails beyond orders for officers to gear up. While DHS never responded to New Times about the possibility of a large-scale immigration operation over the weekend, Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, a policy coordina- tor at the American Friends Service Com- mittee, a nonprofit dedicated to social justice, noticed a flurry of activity at the ICE field office in Miramar on Saturday. She saw several unmarked vehicles and vans from the private prison contractor GEO Group, which typically transport detainees, coming and going. Mendez-Zamora said an agent videotaped them as they stood outside the facility, documenting the vehi- cles as they departed. Mendez-Zamora tells New Times that at least five Cuban men were detained during office visits on Saturday. She says she spoke with their families, who said the men had gone in for what they believed were routine immigration check-ins. “It was really sad to see just the fami- lies,” Mendez-Zamora says. As part of President Donald Trump’s large-scale immigration crackdown, his administration has sent several ICE agents to cities across the country to ramp up deportations, including “Patriot 2.0” in Boston and “Midway Blitz” in and around Chicago. Just last week, DHS announced that 1.6 million illegal immigrants have self-deported, and another 527,000 have been deported under Trump’s second administration. “This is just the beginning. President Trump and Secretary Noem have jump- started an agency that was hamstrung and barred from doing its job for the last four years,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release. “In the face of a historic number of injunctions from activist judges and threats to law en- forcement, DHS, ICE and CBP, have not just closed the border but made historic strides to carry out President Trump’s promise of arresting and deporting illegal aliens who have invaded our country.” [email protected]
