President Trump on Tuesday advised would-be escapees from Florida’s new “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility to zigzag when trying to evade reptilian predators lurking in the Everglades.
“Don’t run in a straight line; run like this,” the president said to reporters, waving his hand from side-to-side, before he left the White House for Florida on Tuesday.
“You know what, your chances go up by 1 percent. Not a good thing,” he added.
Trump is touring the remote facility, which was built through a partnership with state and federal resources to bolster the president’s immigration crackdown, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The soft-sided units outfitted with chain-link cells have been built to house hundreds of detainees.
In a video first coining the site “Alligator Alcatraz,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R), who joined Trump for Tuesday’s tour, highlighted its remote location as a bonus.
“People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons — nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” he said in a video shared on social platform X last month.
Trump similarly remarked about the far-flung location during a public event during his trip there.
“It’s known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ which is very appropriate, because I looked outside and it’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,” he said. “We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is, really, deportation.”
Wildlife experts mostly dismiss the zigzagging advice when encountering a gator, though.
“A prevalent myth suggests that alligators can outrun humans over short distances or that zigzagging can confuse them,” Field & Stream magazine noted in a survival guide published in 2023. “However, the reality is that running in a straight line away from the threat is your safest bet.”
“An alligator’s primary advantage is not its speed on land but its agility and prowess in the water,” the article added.
