Alcatraz To Reopen? Trump Administration Officials Reportedly Visiting Infamous Prison

Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly in San Francisco with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to visit Alcatraz.

Reports suggest federal officials are expected to announce the reopening of the notorious prison.

“Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are expected to visit Alcatraz today, a source tells me,” NewsNation White House correspondent Libbey Dean said.

“The visit by @AGPamBondi & @SecretaryBurgum comes as President Trump says he wants to reopen the former federal prison located on an island in the San Francisco Bay. Secretary Burgum’s department controls the land, while AG Bondi oversees the Bureau of Prisons which would operate Alcatraz,” she added.

The visit by @AGPamBondi & @SecretaryBurgum comes as President Trump says he wants to reopen the former federal prison located on an island in the San Francisco Bay.

Secretary Burgum’s department controls the land, while AG Bondi oversees the Bureau of Prisons which would…

— Libbey Dean (@LibbeyDean_) July 17, 2025

ABC7 San Francisco has more:

Trump administration officials landed in San Francisco Wednesday night, just hours from a highly-anticipated visit to Alcatraz.

The attorney general and interior secretary are expected to announce plans to officially reopen it as a federal prison.

State and local leaders are slamming the idea with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi calling it the President’s “stupidest initiative yet.”

Her office is expecting legislation in the House that would pave the way for Alcatraz to reopen.

The yet-to-be-introduced bill is expected to end environmental protections for Alcatraz and take away the National Park Service’s control of the site.

A plane with the markings ‘United States of America’ is in the Bay Area, and arrived Wednesday evening with an entourage of officials. In fact, there was a police led motorcade that came with it.

Alcatraz, known as “The Rock,” was shut down in 1963 due to high costs.

“There’s no realistic plan to make Alcatraz reopen as anything other than a wonderful attraction that it currently is,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said, according to NBC Bay Area. 

Bondi to announce plans to reopen Alcatraz as Pelosi calls it Trump’s ‘stupidest initiative yet’ https://t.co/pPWXNimCFv

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) July 17, 2025

NBC Bay Area shared Pelosi’s statement:

“With stiff competition, the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump Administration’s stupidest initiative yet. It should concern us all that clearly the only intellectual resources the Administration has drawn upon for this foolish notion are decades-old fictional Hollywood movies.

“Make no mistake: this stupidity is a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from this Administration’s cruelest actions yet in their Big, Ugly Law, which takes away food from children and rips health care from millions to give tax breaks to billionaires. It remains to be seen how this Administration could possibly afford to spend billions to convert and maintain Alcatraz as a prison when they are already adding trillions of dollars to the national debt with their sinful law.

“Should reason not prevail and Republicans bring this absurdity before the Congress, Democrats will use every parliamentary and budgetary tactic available to stop the lunacy.”