By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and SALLY HO, Associated Press

As a transgender man, the words “you’re a girl” gutted Tazz Webster, a taunt hurled at him from the day he moved into his St. Louis apartment.

The government-subsidized building’s manager also insisted on calling Webster by the wrong name, the 38-year-old said, and ridiculed him with shouts of, “You’re not a real man!”

“I just felt like I was being terrorized,” Webster told The Associated Press. “I felt that I was being judged and mistreated, like I was less of a human being.”

Then one day in March 2022, the manager shoved Webster so hard he stumbled backward. After regaining his balance, Webster said he pushed the manager back. Four months later he was homeless.

Webster filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office, the agency tasked with investigating housing discrimination and enforcing the landmark Fair Housing Act that guarantees equal access to housing for all Americans.

Webster’s harassment allegation was serious enough that it was investigated for more than two years, until the office suddenly notified him in February it was dropping his case without a finding, citing lack of jurisdiction.

The timing of the closure was not a coincidence.

In the months since President Donald Trump took back the White House and installed a loyalist to lead the federal housing department, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and his team have moved swiftly and strategically to undo, uproot and remake the agency’s decades of work and priorities.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner, arrives for a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In the crosshairs is an intense focus on transgender people, as HUD retreats from long-established fair-housing protections by closing their discrimination complaints and, more broadly, moving to undo the Obama-era Equal Access Rule that cemented transgender people’s rights to discrimination protection in housing.

“It’s time to get rid of all the far-left gender ideology and get government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in his own image — male and female,” Turner said in announcing in February that he was halting enforcement of the Equal Access Rule.

Sex discrimination in the Fair Housing Act

At issue is the fact that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people wasn’t specifically cited in the Fair Housing Act. But the Equal Access Rule enacted in 2012 under former President Barack Obama further defined sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The policy was expanded in 2016 to cover transgender people seeking help at federally funded emergency shelters, escalating opposition from the right.

In 2020, the first Trump administration unsuccessfully moved to relieve shelters of any obligation to serve transgender people. Now, advocates fear an emboldened Trump will go further and forbid shelters from accommodating gender identity altogether, as his administration announces unspecified revisions to the Equal Access Rule.

“Our protections can’t be a pingpong ball that changes every four years,” said Seran Gee, an attorney for Advocates for Trans Equality.

Everything Webster owned was trashed

After being left with permanent injuries in a car crash, Webster, who survives on disability payments, was grateful to move in April 2021 into an apartment near the city’s 1,300-acre (526-hectare) Forest Park, scene of the 1904 World’s Fair and home to museums and a zoo.

Related Articles

Trump directs Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz. Can he do that?

Federal Reserve likely to defy Trump, keep rates unchanged this week

Trump’s trade demands go beyond tariffs to target perceived unfair practices

Trump threatens a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, saying the movie industry in the US is dying

Adrian Wooldridge: The arc of history does not simply bend toward justice

His rent was initially less than $200 per month, he said. That is because Branscome Apartments had a contract with the federal government to provide subsidized housing to people with disabilities and low-income seniors.

But the HUD money also comes with strings, said Linda Morris, staff attorney for the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, who leads the organization’s housing discrimination work.

“The Equal Access Rule applies to HUD-funded programs and shelters,” said Morris, who doesn’t represent Webster. “If an entity is going to accept federal funding they have to comply.”

Under the rule, HUD-funded housing and programs must provide equal access to everyone regardless of gender identity, and can’t require intrusive questioning.

Four months after the shoving incident, Webster found his door kicked in and his belongings trashed, even though, he said, he was up to date on his rent and never received an official eviction notice.

Gone were his king-size bed, dishes, Social Security card and birth certificate. Even worse was the loss of the obituary for his mother, who died when he was 12, and her necklace, a treasured memento.

“I had nothing,” said Webster, who had been mostly staying away from the apartment for fear of another run-in with the manager. “I was so afraid to be there, I would go to my friend’s house and spent nights at a time and then come back, switch my clothes,” and leave.

Court records in an eviction case filed against Webster in April 2022 cited repeated unsuccessful efforts to serve him. After he was gone, the case was dropped.

Last August, Webster filed a lawsuit in Missouri state court alleging he was illegally evicted.

“There was never a court order allowing them to change the locks, allowing them to throw away his belongings,” said attorney KB Doman of Arch City Defenders, an advocacy group representing Webster.

The suit seeks $25,000 in property damage and for “severe emotional stress and trauma.” The apartment has denied the allegations in court filings.

Stephen Strum, the attorney representing the building, declined the AP’s requests for comment on the HUD case and said the pending lawsuit “merely alleges that my client did not properly follow the steps for evicting.”

To Doman, Webster’s case reflects a larger trend.

“A lot of people that would have some recourse, at least through HUD investigating, really are just out on their own now,” she said. “It’s going to be harder for trans people to find safe, stable housing, and it’s very hard already.”

Closure of Webster’s case is just one of many, HUD attorneys say

Since Turner took the helm at HUD, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity has instructed staff to pause investigations of all gender identity discrimination cases, according to two HUD attorneys who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs or benefits.

One said letters were then issued closing the cases for lack of jurisdiction. HUD has not disclosed how many cases have been dropped.

Webster’s letter and another provided to the AP cite Trump’s executive order calling for the federal government to define sex as only male or female.

Morris, of the ACLU, said she has never seen an executive order cited in a jurisdictional closure of a complaint.

“So that’s really alarming,” said Morris, who described the closures as “very much consistent with this administration’s broader attacks on trans people and on civil rights more broadly.”

Asked about policy changes concerning transgender discrimination, HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett said the agency was enforcing the Fair Housing Act while implementing Trump’s executive order “restoring biological truth to the federal government.”

In a statement citing Trump’s order, she said government policy recognizes two sexes that “are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

‘A nationwide federal push to erase trans identity’

Bea Gonzalez, a transgender man, was kicked out of a suburban St. Louis domestic violence shelter on a chilly night in November 2021, along with his three children, then 2, 5 and 7.

The family was just settling into a room after filling out paperwork at Bridgeway Behavioral Health Women’s Center when Gonzalez was told they had to go because he disclosed he was a transgender man.

Bea Gonzalez, a transgender man who was kicked out of a domestic violence shelter in November 2021 along with his three children, poses for a photo, April 9, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

“I wasn’t about to go back into the closet,” the 33-year-old said of his insistence on telling the truth even after it was suggested he keep his trans identity secret.

He needed a domestic violence shelter, he said, for greater security for the children and because he feared for his safety as a trans man in a men’s shelter, some of which don’t accept children anyway.

The city had no domestic violence shelters for men, said his attorney Kalila Jackson. “In the St. Louis metropolitan area, there was no place else for him to go. There were no other options.”

The family was sent to a motel, but when they arrived they discovered it hadn’t been paid for, and the organization that sent them there was closed. “So I was stranded,” said Gonzalez, who did not have a car. “I had to call a friend who was able to let us stay for the night.”

Jackson said Bridgeway received HUD funding and that its policy of barring transgender men was a violation of the Equal Access Rule and “straight up sex discrimination.”

Jackson said the message the shelter sent was this: “You’re biologically a girl, you should dress as a girl. Since you say that you are a man, we are not going to accept you here.”

HUD didn’t address Gonzalez’s or Webster’s complaints when the AP sought comment on their cases.

HUD investigated Gonzalez’s complaint for 2 1/2 years until it suddenly notified him in March the agency was dropping it without a finding. The company operating the shelter, Preferred Family Healthcare, did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

After 455 days of being shuttled between six shelters in six cities in two states — Missouri and Illinois — Gonzalez ultimately found stable housing, where his children live with him part time.

He sees what happened as part of what he describes as a “nationwide federal push to erase trans identity.”

Shelters struggle to comply with Trump directives

Advocates are concerned by HUD’s shift, noting high rates of discrimination — and homelessness — among people who are LGBTQ+.

Nearly one-third of trans people say they have been homeless at some point in their lives, while 70% who stayed in a shelter reported being harassed, assaulted or kicked out because of their gender identity, according to an Advocates for Trans Equality survey released in 2015, a year before Obama expanded protections for trans people in shelters.

Teens who come out to families who aren’t accepting are particularly at risk, said Ann Olivia, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Some shelters that might have served them in the past are becoming less welcoming now amid upheaval with the Equal Access Rule, Olivia said.

“Folks who are trans just won’t go if they don’t think that they’re going to be treated with respect,” she said, adding that is particularly problematic for young people who are “vulnerable to sex traffickers and to other types of abuse.”

Further complicating the situation are seemingly contradictory requirements in new HUD contracts with nonprofits that find permanent housing and run shelters for the homeless. One section stipulates they can’t promote “gender ideology” while another requires compliance with anti-discrimination law, according to a copy provided to the AP.

Organizations say they are confused.

“What is promoting gender ideology? What does that mean?” asked Jeannette Ruffins, CEO of Homeward NYC, a nonprofit that runs three permanent housing sites for LGBTQ+ young adults, as well as a homeless shelter.

“Does housing LGBTQ young adults promote gender identity?” she asked. “You know, they’re coming to us. This is already their gender identity. Like I’m not promoting it.”

Ruffins called a board meeting to discuss potential “vulnerabilities” on their website, something she said most New York City nonprofits were doing as well.

Her organization made small changes to their website, saying they were LGBTQ+ “affirming and friendly” in a few places rather than LGBTQ+ “serving,” hoping that will make them less of a target.

In Memphis, Tennessee, a nonprofit that provides emergency shelter for transgender people is looking to increase capacity because of the uncertainty.

Kayla Gore, executive director of My Sistah’s House, said it can do that because it doesn’t take federal funding.

“People are confused,” Gore said. “They don’t know what to do because they want to protect their bottom line.”

‘This is the world’

Nearly three years after losing his apartment, Webster remains homeless, staying with friends and sometimes sleeping on the floor.

He is on a waiting list for subsidized housing because he can’t afford rent otherwise. But he expects the massive federal funding cuts and Trump administration directives banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives will make the wait even longer.

“Let’s be honest. This is the world,” he said. “People, they do hateful things. If you legalize them to hating, then they feel like they have a right.”

By ALBERT STUMM, Associated Press

INVERNESS, Scotland (AP) — As we crossed the Keswick Bridge into the rolling hills outside Inverness, green fields of early-spring barley still had months to grow until harvest. The grain will be sent to a nearby malting factory and eventually made into whisky at some of Scotland’s 150-plus distilleries.

Interspersed among the barley fields were yellow rows of flowering rapeseed, used to make cooking oil, and herds of grazing sheep that seemed to outnumber people.

A general view of Inglis Street in Inverness, Scotland, appears on March 31, 2025. (Albert Stumm via AP)

It was a tableau I thought would have been the same for a thousand years. But rapeseed only started to be planted in the 1970s, and at one point there were a lot more people than sheep, said my guide, Cath Findlay.

During the tumultuous hundred years of the Highland Clearance, landowners kicked out most of the tenants and replaced them with sheep, which were more valuable to them than people, Findlay said.

“At the time, the British government were fighting all over the world, and they needed wool for uniforms and meat for their soldiers,” she said. “So in much of the Highlands, we see that it’s hilly, and there’s lots of sheep.”

The history lesson resonated because it was obvious throughout my week in Scotland that the past is very much present. But Inverness and its environs are hardly stuck in the past.

Small, but thriving

Inverness is the gateway to the Highlands, a rugged, windswept region of northwest Scotland. The small but thriving city, one of the fastest-growing in the United Kingdom, is best known as the jumping-off point for mystical monster hunters attracted by the legend of Loch Ness.

People shop in Leakey’s Bookshop on Church Street in Inverness, Scotland, on March 31, 2025. (Albert Stumm via AP)

In recent years, however, it’s carving out an international identity beyond whisky, Nessie and tartan plaid, though there still is plenty of that too.

The center of town can be crossed on foot in a leisurely 15 minutes. Overlooking a cliff at one end, the red sandstone Inverness Castle was covered in scaffolding when I visited this spring. A renovation to turn it into an interactive attraction focused on stories of the Highlands is expected to finish this year.

Right in the center is the recently refurbished Victorian Market, a once bustling hall that was on the verge of closing anyway when the COVID lockdown arrived.

The entrance to the renovated Victorian Market, hosting over 30 independent businesses, appears in Inverness, Scotland, on March 31, 2025. (Albert Stumm via AP)

Town leaders took advantage of the moment to breathe new life into it. The market now includes a mix of craft stores, cafes, jewelry shops, barbers and one remaining butcher (try their meat pies, which Findlay said are better than homemade).

The seafood market was replaced with a lively food hall, with the acclaimed Bad Girls Bakery as its first tenant. Following soon were innovative but affordable seafood at The Redshank, pulled meat at Ollie’s Pops, vegan at Salt N Fire, and more.

Now, there is live music every day and 75,000 people pass through the market during busier weeks — nearly the size of the population of the entire city.

Tour guide Cath Findlay appears in the Old High Church Kirkyard in Inverness, Scotland, on March 31, 2025. (Albert Stumm via AP)

“It was dead as a doornail, and now it’s the beating heart of the town,” Findlay said.

Just up Church Street, the main drag, The Walrus and Corkscrew opened soon after as the town’s only wine bar. And nearby at Black Isle Bar, wood-fired pizzas come paired with one of 24 organic beers that the owners brew on their own farm just outside town.

A story with your meal

In the nearby village of Beauly, the Downright Gabbler guesthouse has four suites and a full-time storyteller.

Garry Coutts and his wife, Jane Cumming, opened with a small dining room and their daughter Kristy as chef. It’s not a restaurant, exactly, but they hold several themed events each week that combine Coutts’ encyclopedic knowledge of Scottish history and legend with their daughter’s modern take on traditional dishes.

Garry Coutts and his wife, Jane Cumming appear outside of their at their guest house and restaurant, Downright Gabbler, in Beauly, Scotland, on March 31, 2025. (Albert Stumm via AP)

Among the events is the regularly held Highland Banquet, six courses that trace the region’s people from prehistory to modern times. Venison carpaccio with pickled blackberries, for instance, was inspired by hunter-gatherers, although Coutts noted they ate much more seafood and foraged vegetables than deer.

“They’re very difficult to catch,” Coutts quipped. “They run away!”

The courses unfolded with stories peppered throughout, ranging from some illegal origins of Johnnie Walker’s whisky blends to the couple’s distaste for Las Vegas. Also on the table was a deck of cards, each printed with the name of a prominent Scot to be drawn at random for a story told on the fly.

Related Articles

The Real ID deadline Is days away. Are you ready to fly?

Traveling abroad soon? What to look out for when exchanging money

Best destinations for marijuana-friendly vacations

Why Chicago should be your springtime escape

Hawaii plans to increase hotel tax to help it cope with climate change

I pulled Alexander Graham Bell, who likely holds the record for having the most challenges from competitors for patent infringement, Coutts said.

“It’s amazing the number of Americans that come in here and tell me he’s not Scottish,” he said.

If you go

Where to stay: Lodgings include the Ness Walk Hotel, a modern, five-star property a 20-minute walk from the center, and the Heathmount Hotel, a cozy, independent, three-star option within a 10-minute walk of Church Street.

Travelers tip: For such a small town, there is a shocking amount of live music. Performers attract crowds at Hootananny and The Highlander every night, and most nights at MacGregor’s, among other spots. First, stop into The Malt Room for a whisky flight chosen from their list of 350 single-malts.

Find more information on visitscotland.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about travel, food and wellness. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

While specific figures for New York under the new federal administration are not yet available, media reports and press releases from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) suggest there have been more than 340 arrests of migrants from January to mid-April across the state. 

Residents rally against local ICE activity in Fulton, NY on April 25, 2025. (Erin Fiorini/Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network)

It was the afternoon of Jan. 21, and President Donald Trump had just taken office hours before.

That day, María’s husband picked up their four children from school, and on the way home, another vehicle hit them. María had been up late working the night shift cleaning offices from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Fulton, located in upstate Oswego County, New York. But calls to her cell phone woke her up.

“Mom, immigration came and took Dad away,” she recalled being told by her 15-year-old daughter, who was in the front seat of the family car at the time. After the collision, María said her husband called the police—and immigration showed up too, according to her daughter.

When María, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for fear of jeopardizing their immigration process, got to the scene of the incident, her husband was already handcuffed.

He’s among an estimated hundreds of undocumented immigrants arrested in New York so far this year, part of a pledge by the Trump administration—which just marked its first 100 days in office—to carry out mass deportations. Nationwide, the number of immigration arrests in February was the highest in any month in the last seven years, The Guardian reported. 

While specific figures for New York under the new federal administration are not yet available, media reports and press releases from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) suggest there have been more than 340 arrests of migrants from January to mid-April across the state. 

“As part of its routine operations, ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” an ICE spokesperson said via email, adding that the ICE’s field office in upstate Buffalo “is actively investigating immigration crimes in cities across northern, western and central New York State.”

María said her husband has no criminal history. In a press release last week, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that 75 percent of the 158,000 ICE arrests across the country since Trump took office were of immigrants with past convictions or pending charges. But media reports have documented an increasing number of people without records getting caught up by ICE. 

Shadowed by the Statue of Liberty, New York has long been perceived as welcoming to immigrants. But the Trump administration’s crackdown is being felt even in New York City, where hundreds of ICE arrests have been made despite sanctuary laws that restrict local government cooperation with immigration authorities.

Mayor Eric Adams has also challenged one of the sanctuary laws that kicked ICE off Rikers Island more than a decade ago.

While the mayor says the move is intended to keep “dangerous people off our street,” city lawmakers slammed the change, saying it would make immigrant New Yorkers even more wary of cooperating with police or reporting crimes.

On April 21, after the City Council sued the Adams administration, New York Judge Mary Rosado blocked the mayor’s executive order allowing ICE agents onto Rikers Island, a decision the judge reiterated on April 25, extending the temporary restraining order.

City Councilmembers and advocates held a rally outside City Hall on April 10 to protest Mayor Adams’ plan to allow ICE to operate on Rikers Island. (Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit)

During an interview on the Fox News’ show “My View With Lara Trump,” Mayor Eric Adams—who recently saw the corruption charges against him dropped at the behest of Trump’s Justice Department—referred to the city’s sanctuary laws as a “concept.”

“A lot of people don’t realize there is no law of sanctuary city. That’s not a law. It is a concept,” the mayor said in an interview on April 19.  

Beyond city limits, New York State has a patchwork of sanctuary laws, which exist mostly in cities like Ithaca and the capital in Albany.

In 2020, during President Trump’s first term, New York immigrant advocates and state lawmakers introduced the New York for All Act, a bill that would prohibit state and local resources from being used to carry out immigration enforcement. 

Similar legislation passed in neighboring states like New Jersey and Connecticut. But after years of pressure, this bill has not yet been approved.

Advocates who spoke with City Limits said the transformation of immigration enforcement in New York is evident. After arrests, people are placed in a detention center, meaning there has been an uptick not only in arrests but also detainees.

For a few weeks, María’s husband was detained at the ICE detention facility in Batavia, NY, before he was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana. He was deported to El Salvador on March 14, the day before the first three flights of immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act departed.

“All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality,” an ICE spokesperson said.

After her husband’s arrest, María lost her cleaning job because she had to take care of her daughters at night. She just found a new job, but said it has been a rough time for everyone.

“He was not a delinquent man—he went from church to work,” María told City Limits in Spanish. “He was a good father. That hurt me the most.”

A chilling effect, as well as solidarity

Upstate advocates say they have been receiving more reports of immigrant arrests daily.

“We’ve seen activity at farms, lumber mills, restaurants, outside food distributions, churches, packing plants, construction sites,” said Jessica Maxwell, director of the  Workers’ Center of Central New York. “Most seem to be targeting workers and trying to catch them in transit where they are most vulnerable.”

Sightings of Border Patrol, ICE, or Department of Homeland Security agents, combined with media reports and stories circulating on immigrant community channels, have created a “chilling effect” throughout these communities.

Advocates described that people have stopped going to the market, church, or social events out of fear, just as they did during the pandemic.

On April 25, a group of residents protested in Fulton “against ICE and in favor of due process,” said Erin Fiorini, a volunteer advocate for the Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network. 

“There are farms where nobody leaves anymore,” Maxwell said. “How long is that sustainable for people?”

“For a lot of our community, particularly in the North Country, it’s like a pandemic. They don’t go out to dinner. Soccer leagues have been canceled,” she added. “People are not going out for social events anymore. Not even the church.”

Amid this fear, volunteers, residents, and organizations like the farmworker-led grassroots group Alianza Agrícola have created networks to order and deliver groceries for those too fearful to leave their homes or workplaces.

The measures do not stop there.

“One of them [a farmworker] was telling me yesterday that everybody’s packing boxes and sending them back to Guatemala because people feel like it’s just like a ticking time bomb,” Maxwell said. “It’s just a matter of time, and they don’t want to lose everything. Don’t want to lose all their stuff.”

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Daniel@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post In Trump’s First 100 Days, Immigrant Arrests Stir Fear Across New York—But Also Forge Community Bonds appeared first on City Limits.

President Trump said Sunday that he was ordering the FBI to reopen the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, the historic prison on an island off of San Francisco that has been closed since 1963.

“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

RELATED: If Trump really wants to reopen Alcatraz, he’ll have to go through California’s environmental laws

Once fortified with the goal of becoming the world’s most secure prison, the government closed Alcatraz because it was too expensive to run — costing three times as much as most other federal prisons.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, in a statement posted Sunday to social media, said that Trump’s proposal “is not a serious one.”

“Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago,” she wrote. “It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction.”

Related Articles

Federal Reserve likely to defy Trump, keep rates unchanged this week

Trump’s trade demands go beyond tariffs to target perceived unfair practices

Trump threatens a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, saying the movie industry in the US is dying

Adrian Wooldridge: The arc of history does not simply bend toward justice

Zeynep Tufekci: When the police have no faces

The federal government would have some major challenges to overcome if it does want to make Alcatraz into an operating prison again, said local historian John Martini.

“It’s nowhere near a functioning island by any means,” said Martini, who has written about the military history of the San Francisco Bay. “God, it’s a wreck.”

The main prison has been deteriorating for years, save for some seismic upgrades that made it safe for visitors. Back in 1962, the Bureau of Prisons weighed making upgrades to the prison, but it would have cost $5 million — or $52 million today.

Were Trump to raze the existing structure and build anew, that too could be prohibitively expensive, Martini said. The island has no source of fresh water, which means that contractors have to ship their own water to make concrete.

The island is also a rock, with no soil to drill into. On top of that, there’s no electricity on the island, except what’s generated from a small system of solar panels. Many contractors operate on generators, so their fuel has to be brought over by boat. Bad sea conditions make it nearly “impossible” for them to land, too, Martini said.

“The reason it is not a prison now is because of the daunting challenges from six decades ago,” Martini said. “The idea that we’re going to forget all that and pick up where we left off during the JFK administration — let’s just say there will be a lot of challenges.”

The federal penitentiary opened in August 1934 and was in operation for less than 30 years. Inmates included notorious criminals such as Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, who had a history of prior escapes from prison.

In 1962, three of Alcatraz’s prisoners escaped — John Anglin, his brother Clarence, and Frank Morris. They planted dummies in their beds, climbed out via rooftop ventilators, and launched a raft with the aim of crossing the Bay. They were never found and are believed not to have survived.

Who controls Alcatraz?

As of 1972, Alcatraz has been owned by the National Park Service. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which manages the island, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Can Trump really rebuild?

Alcatraz is on the National Register of Historic Places. If Trump is serious about rebuilding a prison on Alcatraz, it would likely have to remove its designation.

He could also end up getting held up by California’s strong environmental protection laws. Current contractors using heavy equipment must work around nesting sea birds, since the island is considered a protected environment, Martini said. Nearly a third of the island is closed much of the year so that Western gulls and cormorants can make their nests.

Related Articles

Federal Reserve likely to defy Trump, keep rates unchanged this week

Trump’s trade demands go beyond tariffs to target perceived unfair practices

Trump threatens a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, saying the movie industry in the US is dying

Adrian Wooldridge: The arc of history does not simply bend toward justice

Zeynep Tufekci: When the police have no faces

What’s on the island now?

Since 1973, Alcatraz has been open to the public, operating as a tourist destination and a museum looking back at its time as a federal penitentiary. The museum welcomes more than 1.4 million visitors each year.

The National Park Service has been in the midst of redesigning the museum and visitor experience, with the launch slated for later this summer, according to a social media post by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Vice President Sean Kelley.

The annual Escape from Alcatraz Island is hosted on the island each year, which requires a 1.5-mile swim through the Bay’s choppy waters to the San Francisco shore.

The island is also popular with birdwatchers — it hosts over 20,000 birds, including murres, grebes and ducks.

Where do federal prisoners go now?

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates three high-security penitentiaries in California and six medium-security federal correctional institutions. In 2024, the government closed the scandal-plagued women’s prison, FCI Dublin, where several guards were found to have sexually abused multiple inmates.