But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Matthew 24 : 20
BY JOHN SEEWER
Fri, July 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM GMT+32 min read
Deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as ” Alligator Alcatraz ″ have begun and are expected to increase soon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.
The first flights operated by the Department of Homeland Security have transferred about 100 detainees from the immigration detention center to other countries, DeSantis said during a news conference near the facility.
“You’re going to see the numbers go up dramatically,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Two or three flights have already departed, but officials didn’t say where those flights headed.
God had provided a way of escape for his servant in this hour of peril. A vigilant eye had followed Luther’s movements, and a true and noble heart had resolved upon his rescue. It was plain that Rome would be satisfied with nothing short of his death; only by concealment could he be preserved from the jaws of the lion. God gave wisdom to Frederick of Saxony to devise a plan for the reformer’s preservation. With the co-operation of true friends, the elector’s purpose was carried out, and Luther was effectually hidden from friends and foes. Upon his homeward journey, he was seized, separated from his attendants, and hurriedly conveyed through the forest to the castle of Wartburg, an isolated mountain fortress. Both his seizure and his concealment were so involved in mystery that even Frederick himself for a long time knew not whither he had been conducted. This ignorance was not without design; so long as the elector knew nothing of Luther’s whereabouts, he could reveal nothing. He satisfied himself that the reformer was safe, and with this knowledge he was content. GC88 168.1
Critics have condemned the South Florida facility as cruel and inhumane. DeSantis and other Republican officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Building the facility in the Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents, DeSantis and other officials have said.
The White House has delighted in the area’s remoteness — about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Miami — and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators. It hopes to send a message that repercussions will be severe if U.S. immigration laws are broken.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump has suggested that his administration could reopen Alcatraz, the notorious island prison in San Francisco Bay. The White House also has sent some immigrants awaiting deportation to a detention lockup in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and others to a megaprison in El Salvador.
The Everglades facility was built in a matter of days over 10 square miles (26 square kilometers). It features more than 200 security cameras and more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) of barbed wire. An adjacent runway makes it more convenient for homeland security officials to move detainees in and out of the site.
It currently holds about 2,000 people, with the potential to double the capacity, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday.
DeSantis wants the U.S. Justice Department to allow an immigration judge on site to speed up the deportation process.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This was never intended to be something where people are just held,” he said. “The whole purpose is to be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations.”
Critics have challenged federal and state officials’ contention that the detention center is just run by the state of Florida. Environmental groups suing to stop further construction and expansion demanded Thursday to see agreements or communications between state and federal officials and to visit the site.
___
Associated Press writer Mike Schneider contributed.
Adventist Angels Watchman Radio 
One thought on “Patmos Island : Deportation flights from Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center have begun, DeSantis says”