Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum had social media users howling when the expression he gave during a Fox News interview went viral shortly after touring Alcatraz alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi amid President Donald Trump's call for the infamous prison to be reopened.
A former prison located on a small island of the same name just off the coast of San Francisco, Alcatraz once held some of the country’s most notorious criminals and was considered one of the most secure facilities of its time. Trump recently declared he wants to reopen Alcatraz as a prison "to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders."
Now a major historical landmark and popular tourist destination, Alcatraz Island was once one of the most heavily fortified military installations on the West Coast. In 1934, it was converted into a maximum-security federal penitentiary, gaining notoriety as a “last resort” prison reserved for the most dangerous and disruptive inmates.
At one point, Bondi praised Trump's proposal:
"President Trump is/was the master builder in our country of construction. He's been talking to construction companies who think they can come in here and fix this and fix it up in the way it should be and really try to restore it to its original capacity and save Alcatraz."
As she spoke, Burgum looked on with a hilariously pained smile on his face, his eyes expressionless.
Fox News
The moment had people wincing because it very much looked like Burgum was dying inside.
The proposal to reopen Alcatraz would be remarkably expensive—and a renovation would cost a reported $2 billion.
Officials are weighing three main options: a $2 billion full renovation of the site, a $1 billion partial reconstruction that wouldn’t cover the entire island, or opening the project to private contractors.
The third option mirrors the approach used to secure the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey for federal immigration use. Similarly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program recently backed the launch of the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention center deep in Florida’s Everglades.
