Sen. John Cornyn wants to build an ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Texas

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, this week expressed support for the construction of an “Alligator Alcatraz”-style immigrant-detention facility in Texas, modeled after the controversial open-air facility in the Florida Everglades.

Cornyn, who’s facing a tough primary in the 2026 midterms, endorsed the idea during opening remarks at a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, which he chairs.

“The State of Florida has stepped up to the plate recently, helping the administration to open a detention facility that’s come to be known as Alligator Alcatraz,” Cornyn said during his remarks, which he shared on his website. “If we could find a way to make something like [Alligator Alcatraz] work in Texas, I would strongly support it.”

Cornyn went on to counter what he called “false narratives” surrounding immigration.

“The first false narrative I want to address is a claim that illegal aliens are not criminals, but law-abiding individuals,” said Cornyn. “At the moment an alien illegally enters the United States, they have committed a crime.”

However, according to the ACLU, undocumented presence in the United States is not a criminal offense in itself. Half of those arrested nationally by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had no criminal record, according to NPR.

Illegal entry or reentry can range from a misdemeanor civil offense to a felony, depending on the circumstances surrounding it, ACLU adds. However, many of those living undocumented in the United States may have entered legally and overstayed a visa, for example.

“In public policy debates about criminalizing undocumented immigrants, anti-immigrant lawmakers and groups often throw around terms like ‘criminal alien’ and other misleading rhetoric and statistics suggesting that all undocumented immigrants are criminals or a dangerous threat to the community,” the ACLU’s issue brief on criminalizing immigrants states. “Such language can distort debates about the appropriate use of local criminal laws and of federal prosecutorial resources.”

In his Tuesday remarks, Cornyn also said that undocumented immigrants in the United States aren’t deserving of the full due process guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

“By the time any alien has received an order of removal, they have had all the due process they are owed under the law,” he said.

However, the right to due process of the law is guaranteed in the 14th Amendment to all persons within the United States, not just citizens. That includes right to a fair trial, something critics of the Trump White House argue the administration has dispensed with for some it’s deported.

Cornyn’s aspirations to actualize an Alligator Alcatraz in the Lone Star State come amid mounting criticisms from politicians and activists surrounding the Everglades facility, where there have been reports of medical neglect, worm-infested food and  floors flooded with fecal waste.
Sanitation issues have plagued the facility since its construction. Indeed, it was built on an abandoned landing strip in the middle of swampland with no septic or sewage disposal system. Instead, trucks have transported waste off-site daily.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said county officials have “significant concerns” about the environmental impacts of the facility, including waste runoff, local NPR station WUSF reports. In a separate report, WUSF says indigenous groups and scientists in the area also have sounded the alarm about impacts on endangered species in the delicate surrounding ecosystem.
Cornyn’s alligator aspirations come within the same week that he called for a special counsel to probe Trump White House officials’ claims that Obama interfered in the 2016 election. Both moves seem likely attempts to curry favor with President Trump as the senator approaches a fierce primary battle with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA loyalist.

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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 6, 2025.