By Agence France-Presse
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday, May 4, that he had directed officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz Prison, the notorious federal jail based on a small island in California that closed six decades ago and now serves as a tourist attraction.
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” the Republican wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders,” he said.
Located two kilometers (1.25 miles) off the coast of San Francisco and with a capacity of just 336 prisoners, it held several well-known criminals, including Prohibition-era mob boss Al Capone, and saw many fantastical escape attempts by inmates.
Trump has made cracking down on crime—particularly those committed by migrants—a key element of his second term in the White House.
“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. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
“No longer will we tolerate these serial offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets,” he added.
‘Not a serious’ proposal
The island fortress entered American cultural lore after a 1962 escape by three inmates, notably Frank Morris, which became an inspiration for the film “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood.
It was closed on March 21, 1963 soon after the escape, because it was three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
The major expenses were caused by the physical isolation of the island, with food, supplies, fuel and even drinking water having to be brought to the island every week.
Besides the operating costs, an estimated $3 million-$5 million more was needed just for maintenance and restoration work, the Bureau of Prisons said.
It reopened to the public in 1973 as a tourist site, bringing in more than one million visitors each year.
“It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction,” said former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco.
“The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” she said on social media platform X.
Trump has vowed to crack down on crime, particularly by migrants, and has invoked the 1798 Enemies Act–previously used only during wartime–to deport those whom his administration says are criminals and gang members.
His administration has paid El Salvador millions of dollars to lock up scores of migrants it deported there, with Trump also repeatedly saying he would be open to sending U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to the Central American country.
UN experts said last week that the United States appears to be intentionally denying due process rights to more than 250 Venezuelans and Salvadorans who were deported.
POTUS orders ‘100% tariff’ on all movies produced abroad
U.S. President Donald Trump also said on Sunday that he was ordering new tariffs on all films made outside the United States, claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a trend of U.S. filmmakers and studios working abroad.
The announcement comes as the White House is coming under mounting criticism over its aggressive trade policies that have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on countries around the globe.
“I am authorizing the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reposted Trump’s missive, saying “We’re on it.” However, no details were provided on how the tariff would be implemented.
Trump’s post comes after China, which has taken the brunt of the U.S. President’s combative trade policies with 145 percent tariffs on many goods said last month it would reduce the number of U.S. films it imported.
“The movie industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
“Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” he added, claiming that production being drawn to other countries was a “national security threat.”
The implications for the movie industry–or how exactly the tariffs would be enacted–were not immediately clear. There was also no mention in Trump’s post of whether television series, an increasingly popular and profitable sector of production for the screen, would be affected.
U.S. not in top five
Hollywood is a major sector of the United States’ economy, generating more than 2.3 million jobs and $279 billion in sales in 2022, according to the latest data from the Motion Picture Association.
But in the wake of the Hollywood strikes and the Covid pandemic impacts–which changed how Americans consumed movies, opting to watch at home instead of in theaters–the industry is still struggling to regain its momentum, industry insiders say.
According to a January report by production tracking service ProdPro, the United States is a top filming hub with $14.5 billion in production spending–though that amount is a 26 percent drop compared to two years earlier.
However, a survey of studio executives revealed that their top five preferred production locations for 2025 and 2026 were all outside of the United States, due to competitive tax incentive schemes on offer.
First was Toronto, followed by Britain, Vancouver, Central Europe and then Australia. California came in sixth place.
Ahead of his inauguration in January, Trump appointed longstanding supporters Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight as special envoys to Hollywood.
He said they would make the entertainment industry “STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE” in a post on Truth Social.
Trump and the Republicans have traditionally received scant support from the entertainment industry, and a galaxy of stars from Taylor Swift to George Clooney backed Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
