Historical Roots of Migrant Detention: Unpacking ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Through America’s Past

While the term ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ — a grim nickname for a migrant detention facility in Florida — might seem like a recent phenomenon, its underlying principles are deeply embedded in American history. Rather than a deviation from the nation’s character, this ‘jury-rigged assemblage of cages under tents’ is argued to be a stark manifestation of long-standing societal patterns.

This analysis delves into how contemporary issues, such as the punitive spirit behind such detention centers and the impulse to exclude perceived ‘outsiders,’ echo historical precedents. From the Puritan settlers’ religious fervor and the Salem witch trials to the internment of Japanese and German Americans during the World Wars, the article posits that a consistent thread of paranoia, xenophobia, and the desire to delineate who ‘belongs’ has run through the American narrative.

The piece challenges the ‘delusional one-way narrative of progress’ often associated with American exceptionalism, suggesting that gains in civil rights and human rights were never inevitable or irreversible. Instead, it frames ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ not just as a site of human suffering, but as a symbolic inversion of the liberal historical narrative – one that suggests there are no lessons to be learned from the past, only power to be asserted.

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