The judicial fate of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida remains unclear. In August, a court ruled that the giant migrant detention center, built on Donald Trump’s initiative in a swampy area, violated environmental regulations and must be shut down. But on September 4 another court temporarily overturned that decision. Whatever happens to the grim camp, its name has taken on a life of its own. A video of Trump’s visit there still sits on the White House website, Florida Republicans are selling T-shirts and beer coolers emblazoned with “Alligator Alcatraz,” and memes circulate on social media showing alligators in ICE caps rapping “Ice, Ice, Baby.” The message is clear: if you enter America illegally, expect cruelty.

Trump is a master of what has been called “security theater.” Whether he truly makes America safer is debatable, but he knows how to appear as if he does. It begins with exaggerating threats. Migrants he deports are “the worst of the worst,” he claims. The cities where he wants to send the National Guard are “hellholes”: “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the world, by far.” The eleven alleged Venezuelan narco-gangsters he declared he had “taken out” on September 2 were branded “terrorists” waging war against America.

Once the threat is inflated, Trump orders spectacles for the cameras. Troops in the capital are deployed in spots where tourists are bound to see them. ICE agents are given pickups with “Trump” in gold lettering. The Pentagon released footage of a Venezuelan boat disappearing in a fireball. The aims are threefold: to convince supporters he is defending the nation; to intimidate opponents; and to use the images in his battles with the courts, which challenge the limits of presidential power.

Trump argues that narco-gangs are terrorists sent from Venezuela to “subjugate” the U.S., and therefore, as commander-in-chief, he can execute them at sea or send them to prisons in El Salvador without trial under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Courts dismiss this as absurd, but the administration repeats the claim. On September 5 the newly appointed “Secretary of War,” Pete Hegseth, declared the military should pursue “maximum lethality, not limp legality.”

While the State Department insists El Salvador has no “serious human rights abuses” to bolster its legal case, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posed in front of a packed prison with half-naked inmates and warned: “If you come illegally into the country, this may be one of the consequences” — while wearing a $50,000 Rolex.

The official narrative insists those arrested are dangerous criminals. The statistics, however, are far more mundane. In July only 34% of detainees had prior convictions, down from 57% in December. Fewer than 10% had convictions for violence or theft, according to the Cato Institute. The “Laken Riley Act” requires ICE to prioritize criminals, but the administration pushes the agency to pursue as many migrants as possible.

The political spectacle has another purpose — discrediting Democrats. When Democratic governors refuse to allow the National Guard into their states, the White House accuses them of protecting criminals. In Republican states ICE usually operates quietly in prisons. In Democratic ones, arrests take place in public, often as staged shows. So it was in Los Angeles in July, when the National Guard and Border Patrol occupied MacArthur Park with Humvees and helmeted horses. City officials dismissed the raid as pure theater. “If you want to film in Los Angeles, apply for a film permit like everyone else,” quipped City Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

Polling shows the effects of “security theater” are mixed. An Economist/YouGov survey found 49% of Americans think the mass deportation program has “gone too far,” compared with 21% who believe it “has not gone far enough,” and 24% who say it is “about right.” More people oppose sending troops into cities (46%) than support it (40%). For some, Trump resembles autocrats who sow fear and brand enemies “terrorists.” For others, the show is closer to farce. As a Fox 11 reporter in Los Angeles commented live on air, sneezing mid-broadcast: “Sorry, I’m allergic to bullshit.” | BGNES