Does a viral video show actual incinerators being installed at the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention facility in Florida? No, that's not true: The footage of large metal containers in the video was recorded in Minnesota in 2024. There are no media reports about incinerators being installed at the time of writing and a DHS spokesperson called the rumor "beyond disgusting".
The footage appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on July 2, 2025, under the caption:
Alligator Prison is to be fitted with an incinerator.
In the clip, the speaker said:
In case you don't know what's going on, a girl on TikTok came here and said that one of her neighbors received a government contract asking them to install a bunch of incinerators at Alligator Alcatraz. They're installing incinerators at Alligator Alcatraz on indigenous land...
The post was tagged with following hashtags but contained no proof or links to supporting evidence for any of the statements:
#aligatoralcatraz #ICE #trump.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot by Lead Stories)
Alligator Alcatraz is the name (archived here) of a newly constructed state-run immigration detention facility in Florida. On July 1, 2025, it was visited by U.S. President Donald Trump (archived here).
Searches across Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) for the words "incinerator" and "Alligator Alcatraz" across articles published between his second inauguration and this writing did not show credible media organizations reporting the supposed news story.
A search (archived here) for the same keywords across the materials published on government websites did not yield any results either.
When asked about the claim from the post on TikTok via email on July 3, 2025, the DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin (archived here) characterized it as "beyond disgusting" and referred to it as "vilification of ICE" that "must stop".
Lead Stories contacted the Florida Governor's Office, but didn't receive an immediate response.
The original video of large metal containers seen behind the speaker on TikTok was uploaded on the internet on March 14, 2024 (archived here), more than half a year before Donald Trump won the presidency for the second time that fall (archived here).
The recording was made in Minnesota, not Florida -- roughly at this spot seen on Google Maps:
(Sources: Google Maps screenshot, TikTok screenshots, composite image by Lead Stories)
A business entity (archived here) operating at this location describes itself as "a family owned and operated dealership specializing in the sale of clean, pre-owned semi tractors and trailers" as well as other items. The original 2024 footage tagged this business, too. It explicitly said that the demonstrated incinerators were on sale -- not being moved or installed to fulfill any government contracts.
That business entity's name is not among the eight private contractors identified by the Miami Herald (archived here) as some of the 13 firms involved in the construction of Alligator Alcatraz. Lead Stories contacted all of the named entities. If we hear back, this story will be updated, as appropriate.
Joe Kilsheimer, the executive director of the Florida Waste-to-Energy Coalition (archived here) -- a nonprofit that advocates for owners and operators of trash incinerators -- told Lead Stories via email on July 3, 2025, about the claim involving incinerators at Alligator Alcatraz:
I am unaware of any plans for waste disposal at the facility.
The claim on TikTok appeared to conflate two unrelated stories: Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies and Florida's controversial proposal to build a new trash incinerator plant (archived here) to replace the one that burned down in 2023 (archived here). As of this writing, however, it didn't appear that there was a concrete project or even a specific approved location for that. On May 1, 2025, the Miami Herald (archived here) reported that a local bill banned construction at the former site of the incinerator -- near a Trump golf resort in Miami.
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The post on TikTok reviewed in this fact check also made claims about deportation flights and shackled people washing up ashore. Lead Stories wrote about those claims here.
