Two officials from the Trump administration are reportedly coming to the Bay Area on Thursday to formally launch the effort to turn Alcatraz back into a federal prison.
The office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) says it has been advised Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will tour Alcatraz before announcing details about the reopening.
The White House has not confirmed the visit, but President Trump first pitched this idea in May.
Reopening “The Rock” would not be cheap. Experts estimate it could cost billions of dollars to bring the aging facility up to code.
The feds shut it down in 1963 because it was costing too much to keep it running.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie didn’t mince words when asked about the idea. “There’s no realistic plan to make Alcatraz reopen as anything other than a wonderful attraction that it currently is.”
Pelosi issued a statement Wednesday:
“With stiff competition, the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump Administration’s stupidest initiative yet. 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.
“Make no mistake: this stupidity is a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from this Administration’s cruelest actions yet in their Big, Ugly Law, which takes away food from children and rips health care from millions to give tax breaks to billionaires. It remains to be seen how this Administration could possibly afford to spend billions to convert and maintain Alcatraz as a prison when they are already adding trillions of dollars to the national debt with their sinful law.
“Should reason not prevail and Republicans bring this absurdity before the Congress, Democrats will use every parliamentary and budgetary tactic available to stop the lunacy.”
Source: NBC Bay Area
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