Alligator Alcatraz Memes Are Funny — Until You Realize the Bigger Picture

Back in May 2025, Donald Trump floated the idea of reopening Alcatraz — the infamous prison that was shut down in 1963 and was isolated from everything and everyone. But there may no longer be a reason to, with Alligator Alcatraz (its unofficial name) opening deep, deep in the Florida Everglades, where there’s nothing but swampy waters, gators, and maybe one highway that takes you through the cities bordering it.

Designed to house and deport illegal aliens, Alligator Alcatraz is surrounded by “dangerous wildlife” and is being touted as an “efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest deportation campaign in American history,” according to Karoline Leavitt. That, coupled with rumors of incinerators on-site, has folks questioning how this facility is actually going to be utilized.

And of course, it’s already sparked a wave of memes, with some of the more concerning ones shared below.

First up is this clip (down below) of a gator being hoisted out of the water, with the poster captioning it, “With the 1st pick in the 2025 Alligator Alcatraz draft…” Because let’s be real, we’re all wondering if the "alligator" in Alligator Alcatraz is there simply because it’s located in the heart of the Everglades, home to thousands of gators, or if they actually plan on using them as unofficial security.

It seems ICE is taking the same approach Elon Musk did with DOGE — cutting down on wasteful spending and relying on free security to keep watch over Alligator Alcatraz.

Is that the idea? Because honestly, it doesn’t seem like much time or effort went into building a sturdy and stable detention center.

This genius thought it’d be funny to create an AI clip of Trump riding into Alligator Alcatraz on the back of a gator, passing by locked-up immigrants with the caption “Make America Safe Again.”

But maybe they didn’t realize that in 2023 alone, the highest number of murder offenders in the U.S. were white (8,842), followed by Black offenders (6,405), according to Statista. By comparison, just 498 immigrants were accused or convicted of murder that same year, per ICE. So… will this really make America safe again?

Not a meme, but definitely one of the more jaw-dropping posts to come out of the whole Alligator Alcatraz mess. Feeding humans to gators? Pray she doesn’t ever start climbing the political ladder!

Yep, this pretty much sums up how Alligator Alcatraz looks outside its doors, minus the ICE hats, of course.

Some memes might be making light of the situation, but others are downright concerning, especially since some people are actually excited about Alligator Alcatraz. It’s just another reminder of how twisted things have gotten.