California officials slam Trump's proposal to reopen Alcatraz

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Alcatraz Thursday morning ahead of officials' likely announcement on federal penitentiary's reopening, drawing sharp rebukes from several California politicians criticizing the logistics and viability of the plan.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) condemned the visit in a statement to KTVU Wednesday, saying the Trump administration's plan to reopen the prison is their "stupidest initiative yet."

"With stiff competition, the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump Administration’s stupidest initiative yet," Pelosi said. "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.

Pelosi reiterated her opposition to the plan in a Zoom interview with KTVU's Greg Lee on Thursday morning, adding that the cost to reopen and operate the island prison would likely be staggering.

"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," Pelosi said.

She also said the effort to reopen the dilapidated site is a "diversionary tactic" to draw Americans' focus away from Trump's recent "big, beautiful bill."

READ: Tourists give thumbs down to Trump's plan to turn Alcatraz back into prison

"Now, this is the stupidest [proposal], but the cruelest is what they did with that big, ugly bill," Pelosi said. "[They] take hundreds of billions of dollars from SNAP, hundreds of billions of dollars, and more than that, taking from healthcare, millions of people losing their healthcare. They don’t want us talking about that, they want us talking about Alcatraz."

Trump's proposal

The backstory:

In May, Trump called for the reopening of the infamous prison, saying the penitentiary would house the nation's most "ruthless and violent offenders."

The proposal was met with disdain from local and state leaders. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in May that the re-opening plan was part of a "distraction day in Washington, D.C.," echoing Pelosi's sentiments shared this week.

On Thursday, the criticism from the governor's office was much more succinct.

"Pam Bondi will reopen Alcatraz the same day Trump lets her release the Epstein files. So… never," Newsom's office said in a prepared statement.

State Sen. Scott Weiner, who represents San Francisco, called the idea "absurd."

"This major tourist attraction generates significant revenue for the federal government and supports many jobs," he said in May. "But apart from Trump’s continuing unhinged behavior, this action is part of Trump’s ongoing crusade to sabotage the rule of law."

Weiner ramped up his criticism of the proposal and of the president on Thursday.

"Trump is building a fascist police state, with Congress now giving him a massive slush fund to dramatically expand the ICE secret police and to build more private prison gulags, such as Alligator Alcatraz and CECOT in El Salvador," Weiner said. "Some dismiss Trump’s talk about Alcatraz as a joke. While this idea is absurd on so many levels – and destructive in seeking to destroy one of the most popular tourist sites in the country – Trump has shown that he executes on many of the insane and destructive things that come out of his warped brain. I’m very concerned that Trump will actually try to turn Alcatraz into a gulag to hold the political prisoners ICE is sweeping off the streets. We need to do everything in our power to fight this dangerous idea."

Mayor Daniel Lurie said the idea was not a "serious" proposal, and told KTVU on Thursday there are much more constructive ways for the federal government to spend money in San Francisco.

"There’s no realistic plan to make Alcatraz reopen as anything other than the wonderful tourist attraction that it currently is," Lurie said. "If the federal government wants to spend billions of dollars, I want them to spend it on clean and safe streets and San Francisco’s economic recovery. Alcatraz draws millions of visitors a year, tens of millions of dollars in economic activity, and that is benefitting San Francisco’s recovery. We’re on the rise and that’s what I’m focused on."

Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall visited the island in May. 

He told FOX News at the time that he was "confident" the island could reopen as a prison.

The cost of necessary repairs to reopen the prison was estimated in May at close to $1 billion – with another $40-100 million per year in maintenance. 

The prison shut down in 1963 due to its high operating costs.

A decade later, it reopened as part of the National Park Service. 

The island is part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area, which was created by Congress in 1972. It's served as a San Francisco tourist landmark in the decades since.

San Francisco also hosts an annual "Escape From Alcatraz" triathlon, which includes a swim from the island back to shore. 

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