In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration center christened "Alligator Alcatraz,” modeled after the state’s frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans.

The Trump administration and Florida leaders partnered together to build a detention facility on a remote site nestled in the state’s swampy Everglades to hold migrants awaiting deportation. The site,