Ron DeSantis's aircraft lands in Miami as 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention center construction begins

Ron DeSantis's state-operated Cessna Citation Latitude, tail number N943FL, was tracked departing Sarasota Bradenton International Airport at 1:42 p.m. ET on June 24 and arriving at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport 38 minutes later, according to flight data. The aircraft, owned by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is used for executive-protection transport.

If Ron DeSantis was aboard, he would arrive in South Florida the same week his administration moved to seize control of Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport from Miami-Dade County, per a USA Today report. The state plans to build a temporary immigration detention center nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" on the remote Everglades airstrip, using emergency powers to bypass county negotiations. The facility is part of Florida's broader immigration enforcement plan, with state officials aiming to operationalize 5,000 detention beds by early July.

The June 24 flight follows a pattern of concentrated Florida travel this week: the aircraft had previously flown from Greenville, South Carolina, to Tallahassee on June 23, and from Miami to Greenville earlier that same day. The Miami-Opa Locka arrival places the aircraft near the epicenter of the ongoing dispute between the governor's office and Miami-Dade County over the Everglades site, as environmental groups and local officials push back against the fast-tracked project.