Elote, churrasco and churros: Alligator Alcatraz workers fed by Miami food trucks

Amy Reyes, Miami Herald on Jul 3, 2025

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MIAMI — As the construction on Florida’s new immigrant detention center Alligator Alcatraz was finalizing, elote, churros and churrasco were hauled in to feed the workforce.

Food trucks that Miami locals know and love were contracted this week to feed the workers that were tasked with assembling the 1,000-bed detention center on an old airstrip in the Everglades. The food trucks, which had been coming in going amid the frenzy of contractors and visits from politicos including President Donald Trump, included Mexican street food truck Elote Lovers, Venezuelan sweet treats franchise Churro Mania and Argentinian meat from Che Grill.

Along with them, local favorite Ms. Cheezious, which recently closed its brick-and-mortar spot on Biscayne Boulevard, and Kona Ice, a flavored-ice vendor that’s a mainstay at fancy birthday parties, were seen rolling through the entrance of the detention center this week.

“They love our food but they hate our people,” wrote Tiktok user @ocozalez in a post documenting the vendors entering the construction site. Commenters expressed outrage that the vendors would contract their services for a project that could potentially affect Hispanic immigrants. “Are they seriously celebrating with the food from the very people they are locking up in there?” asked a commenter.

The reason for hiring out several food trucks that specialize in Latin food was obvious to Che Grill owner Gonzalo Cardenas. Almost all the construction workers were Hispanic, he told the Miami Herald. “Everyone was speaking Spanish,” he said.

According to Cardenas, who sent his son and another worker to Alligator Alcatraz, the food truck was stationed outside the high security area and his team was not allowed to leave that space. His son, Valentin, told him that the detention center appeared very organized.

Cardenas, 55, was glad to get the business at this time of year. June is one of the slowest months for his food truck, which his family has operated since 2010 and does catering and major events throughout the county. His team sold between 250-300 orders of churrasco con papas a day at the site.

Cardenas said though he is an immigrant he understands that enforcement is important, especially if the numbers of undocumented immigrants are as bad as he hears.

“It seems like it was necessary to organize the situation,” he told the Herald. “If they keep coming and coming and coming — somehow we have to regulate them.” He said he hasn’t received backlash from providing services to the project. It was just another job.

Ms. Cheezius, a local food truck that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches, apparently did receive some negative feedback after providing services at the center. They posted on their Instagram that they were not involved in “ongoing services” at Alligator Alcatraz. They were contracted by a “disaster relief organization” to provide meals to the active service members at the site.

Cardenas confirmed that his job was done at the detention camp as well. Che Grill’s last day was Wednesday, which was the day the first group of detainees arrived.