Trump is visiting 'Alligator Alcatraz.' Could Air Force One land in the Everglades?

Grethel Aguila and David Goodhue, Miami Herald on Jun 30, 2025

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MIAMI — Could Trump land in the Florida Everglades on Air Force One during his visit to “Alligator Alcatraz” on Tuesday?

It’s possible. To land near the controversial immigrant detention facility, which the DeSantis administration constructed over the last week, Air Force One would have to land at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a remote landing strip north of Tamiami Trail and just east of Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County.

The airport, first known as the Everglades Jetport, was constructed in the early 1970s to serve as a replacement runway for Miami International Airport. It has only one runway, 10,499-feet long, so Trump’s pilot would have to stick the landing.

Air Force One is a Boeing 747-200B. A Boeing 747 can land on a runway as short as 5,000 feet, according to Simple Flying, an aviation publication.

Environmental concerns about the airport’s impact on the Everglades stopped plans to develop the facility further in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, the airport is used primarily for training.

State seizes Miami-Dade airport in Everglades

“Alligator Alcatraz” lies about 40 miles west of Miami International Airport and halfway to Naples. Over the past week, the DeSantis administration built the detention camp in the idle airstrip, owned by Miami-Dade County and recently seized by the state, using its emergency powers.

Bob Thomas, 79, flew in and out of the airport many times during his 21-year career with Eastern Airlines — from “touch-and-goes to full-stop landings” — and said it is an ideal spot to land Air Force One.

“It has high-intensity runway lighting, GPS approach systems, state-of-the-art aviation features there, and can definitely accommodate Air Force One,” Thomas told the Herald. “I think it’s probably the best thing for him, actually.”

DeSantis confirmed Trump’s visit to Ochopee — where the airport is located in Collier County — during a news conference on Monday. The president’s visit was signaled on Sunday, when the Federal Aviation Administration issued a VIP movement notification for Tuesday — an advisory that restricts flights within a distance typically reserved for the president.

The FAA also issued the same alert for Palm Beach International Airport, although it no longer appeared on the FAA’s website as of Monday afternoon.

The 1,000-bed facility is just east of Big Cypress National Preserve, which is federally protected land, and it’s surrounded on three sides by Miccosukee and Seminole tribal infrastructure, including homes and ceremonial sites.

The facility, which officials describe as “temporary,” will consist primarily of large tents and trailers and is expected to house undocumented immigrants detained both within and outside Florida.

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