The legacy media have had a brutal past couple of weeks, and it shows. But with the newly-inaugurated Florida immigration detention center officially known as Alligator Alcatraz now fully operational, the legacies have resorted to pettiness, refusing to address the facility by name.
Watch as ABC’s Whit Johnson does the old “officials are calling” disclaimer, as if the place were named something else:
WHIT JOHNSON: Tonight, the Trump administration sending 200 Marines to Florida to help federal immigration enforcement officers there. The Pentagon says it ‘s part of the plan to deploy 700 troops to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. About 100 National Guard members have already been assigned to the newly opened detention center in Florida that officials are calling “Alligator Alcatraz”.
I’m old enough to remember when Florida passed landmark legislation called the Parents’ Rights in Education Act, which protects children from being exposed to sexual content in school. LGBT activists got worked up and crafted a derisive nickname for the legislation, “Don’t Say Gay”, which the legacy media ran with. The media did their very best to avoid calling that legislation by its proper name.
Here we are again, except activists have not coined a clever derisive name for Alligator Alcatraz which, by the way, is the facility’s official name. Hence ABC’s Whit Johnson saying “officials are calling” the Florida detention center Alligator Alcatraz. No, that’s the place’s OFFICIAL NAME, as confirmed by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. Hence, Alligator Alley getting the “Don’t Say Gay” treatment.
Over at the CBS Evening News, anchor John Dickerson ran through his brief without ever mentioning the facility by name:
JOHN DICKERSON: The Florida attorney general's office says the first group of migrant detainees has arrived at a new detention facility in the Everglades. And the Supreme Court has cleared the way for a group of migrants with criminal records to be deported to South Sudan.
Sadly and in NBC didn't even a muster a report.We suspect the not-naming Alligator Alcatraz tantrum won’t hold, and that the facility will continue to trigger meltdowns of all sorts. In the meantime, it’s pretty self-evident that the media’s strategy is simply: Don’t Say Gator.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Thursday, July 3rd, 2025:
WHIT JOHNSON: Tonight, the Trump administration sending 200 Marines to Florida to help federal immigration enforcement officers there. The Pentagon says it ‘s part of the plan to deploy 700 troops to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. About 100 National Guard members have already been assigned to the newly opened detention center in Florida that officials are calling “Alligator Alcatraz”. ICE agents also arresting a well-known Mexican boxer, Julio César Chávez, Jr., for allegedly being in the U.S. illegally. The Department of Homeland Security says he has ties to a Mexican drug cartel, and will be deported. It comes just days after his fight with Jake Paul.
