Tom Homan Has Perfect Response To Chris Cuomo’s Question About Cost Of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

The Trump administration has received widespread praise for taking the issue of illegal immigration seriously.

One recent proposal, a new detention facility planned for Southern Florida, is attracting a significant amount of attention this week.

But not everyone is in favor of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” which is being described as a 5,000-bed prison of sorts for criminal immigrants and foreign nationals.

When Chris Cuomo asked about the expected $450 million price tag, however, White House border czar Tom Homan was quick to defend the expense, per AOL:

“Well, let’s compare it to the last administration, OK? They’re putting illegal aliens in hotel rooms in New York City for like 500 bucks a night. That’s a fact,” Homan said. “Five hundred dollars per alien, per night for a hotel room. Then they had to pay for food, three meals a day. They had to pay for medical care. They had to pay for attorney access. All these other things were added to that 500 bucks a night. So who knows what the cost was, really. I don’t have that number.”

With millions of illegal migrants entering the U.S. and fueling a border crisis under the Biden administration, the president has distributed millions to states and cities dealing with the issue. In August 2024, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security approved more than $380 million for FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program (SSP) in communities across the country.

The payout followed nearly $260 million in SSP grants distributed in April 2024 and over $780 million in 2023 sent to SSP and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program.

“So who knows what the cost was, really. I don’t have that number. I can tell you the beds here are just under 300, is what I was briefed on. That includes three meals a day, full medical doctors and nurses on site,” Homan added. “So you got food, you got medical. What’s great about this facility is there’s an airstrip right there. So we can also have additional efficiencies on transportation because we have air transport in Arizona. We got in Texas. We got in Louisiana. Having an airstrip in Florida, we have all the East Coast states staging in Florida instead of having numerous, sending some to Louisiana, sending some on to Arizona for a removal of Central America or to Asia.”

Supporters of Trump’s immigration policy have been chiming in on social media to share their thoughts on the facility:

Who else voted for lower gas prices and Alligator Alcatraz! 🙋‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/jQkGz9D1pU

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) July 1, 2025

Alligator Alcatraz is what dreams are made out of. pic.twitter.com/QLheAD68bG

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) June 28, 2025

Liberals heads are exploding over Alligator Alcatraz. They want to call it Alligator Auschwitz. They can call it what they want. I call it Making America Great Again. #AlligatorAlcatraz#AlligatorAuschwitz pic.twitter.com/FsZizNECqN

— DogFacePonia (@DogFacePonia) July 1, 2025

President Trump & Gov. DeSantis confirm Florida will deputize National Guardsmen as immigration judges

Instead of waiting 3 years for a deportation decision, it will be made in less than 3 days at Alligator Alcatraz

Every Red state needs to follow suit pic.twitter.com/frOgCmPGzT

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) July 1, 2025

And as Breitbart reported, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had a message for critics who are worried about the treatment inmates will receive at “Alligator Alcatraz”:

DeSantis said on Tuesday that when they do they intake of illegal immigrants, they explain the option of voluntarily departing.

“So right when you do the intake, they have the information about voluntary departure. They have the ability, obviously, you guys are funding that, because it’s a lot cheaper to do it that way,” DeSantis said.

“So, even if they get brought to the front doorstep here, they still have an opportunity to just go back voluntarily,” he explained.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also drove this point home while touring the facility on Tuesday.

Here’s the full segment of Homan’s interview with Cuomo: