Reopen Alcatraz? Indigenous people say it’s more than madness – it’s historical erasure

The infamous prison became an Indigenous resistance site after it closed. Now, tribes fight Trump's reopening plans

When Donald Trump pledged to reopen the notorious Alcatraz prison as a detention center for immigrants and violent offenders, the idea was met with contempt and mockery. San Francisco leaders have called it Trump's stupidest idea yet" and threatened to cut off the island's sewage and garbage services if the president acts on his carceral ambitions.

But for the Indigenous people of the San Francisco Bay Area, the idea was more than just laughable. It was an affront to their identity, and an attempt to erase the island's history as a site of Indigenous resistance.