Editor's note: This updates with additional details from Burgum's visit to Alcatraz.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Attorney General Pam Bondi toured the halls of Alcatraz prison at Golden Gate National Recreation Area on Thursday, marveling over some of the names of "the rock's" most notorious prisoners to announce that the crumbling facility would be renovated to house "the most dangerous criminals and illegals."
Burgum initially made the announcement on X while touring the prison grounds, but later Thursday the Interior Department sent out a press release.
"Spent the day on Alcatraz Island, a @NatlParkService site, to start the work to renovate and reopen the site to house the most dangerous criminals and illegals," he wrote.
During the visit, Burgum and Bondi toured the mid-19th century building, visiting the dock, power station, and industry building. The Secretary and AG also toured the cell block that housed Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, viewed an overlook of the Parade Grounds onsite and gave an exclusive interview to Fox News. -- DOI.
At the National Parks Conservation Association, Senior Vice President Kristen Brengel said her organization opposed the move.
"Alcatraz is one of the most iconic and heavily visited national park sites in our country, attracting more than one million visitors each year, generating approximately $60 million in annual revenue," said Brengel. "The administration has made it clear they’re willing to ignore the value of our national parks and the rich history, culture and legacy they protect. Congress now faces a choice to either stand up for Alcatraz and the stories it holds or allow our national parks to be sacrificed for political gain.”
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, called the effort the administration's "stupidest initiative yet."
“With stiff competition, the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump Administration’s stupidest initiative yet,” Pelosi wrote in a statement. “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.”
Earlier this month the Trump administration wholly supported, and provided support, for the state of Florida's move to turn an abandoned airport surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve into a detention camp dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.
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