By Steve Contorno and Kit Maher, CNN

(CNN) — Just months after President Donald Trump’s administration quietly moved to undercut a hardline immigration push by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the two Republican former rivals appeared side by side on Tuesday for the opening of a new migrant detention center in the Everglades.

Trump and DeSantis toured the compound — nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” — built on a remote airstrip surrounded by swamp and predators. In the latest display of his support for a signature Trump priority, DeSantis used emergency powers to seize the land and fast-track construction with encouragement from the Trump administration.

“Ron worked beautifully with Kristi (Noem) and all of the people at Homeland Security and got it done in how many days, Ron?” Trump told reporters, turning to DeSantis.

“Eight days, a new facility was up and running,” the governor said.

While Trump touted his relationship with DeSantis — “I would say it’s a 10. I think it’s a 10,” the president said, “maybe 9.9” — the governor has faced a strained dynamic ever since he ran for the 2024 Republican nomination, crossing Trump, who believed he was responsible for DeSantis’ rise.

A White House official described the Trump-DeSantis relationship as “fine” ahead of the leaders’ joint appearance.

The White House for months has moved in ways that effectively isolated DeSantis in his own state, working behind the scenes with Florida lawmakers who refused the governor’s demands on immigration. And Trump has elevated other Florida Republicans, inviting them to events in Washington that the governor did not attend.

Also on hand for Tuesday’s event: Rep. Byron Donalds, Trump’s favored pick to replace the term-limited DeSantis as governor, a not-so-subtle reminder of shifting Republican loyalties in their shared home state. DeSantis, meanwhile, has publicly suggested that his wife, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, would be a worthwhile successor.

The couple have quietly urged the president to scale back his involvement in the race. Trump has since made several high-profile appearances with Donalds.

On Tuesday, Trump declined to answer whether he believes Casey DeSantis should run for governor.

Ron DeSantis then jumped in, attempting to highlight his loyalty to Trump. “The thing about it is I endorsed him immediately in January 2024. I raised one of his PACs millions and millions of dollars.”

DeSantis embraces Trump on immigration

No state moved more aggressively to align itself with Trump’s immigration crackdown than Florida.

Under a new law signed by DeSantis, local police agencies must cooperate with federal immigration officials — a policy shift that has helped Florida account for nearly 40% of the 737 agreements Immigration and Customs Enforcement has signed with local law enforcement departments since Trump took office, according to agency data. Earlier this year, DeSantis’ office and ICE announced the arrest of 1,120 undocumented immigrants over a week in what Florida called a “first-of-its-kind” statewide operation.

During a visit with Fox News on Friday, DeSantis described the new Everglades facility as a “one-stop shop” for detaining, processing and deporting undocumented migrants. When completed, it will hold up to 5,000 beds.

“This is going to be a force multiplier,” DeSantis said, “and we’re happy to work with the federal government to satisfy President Trump’s mandate.”

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, offered DeSantis some praise for his efforts ahead of the visit.

“I mean, Gov. DeSantis, I’ll give him credit. We got that facility that he’s putting up in Florida. We’ll be filling those beds as quick as we can, because we need more beds,” Homan told reporters at the White House.

But DeSantis had sought to go further. His office drafted legislation granting him unprecedented authority to deport migrants using state resources, a power traditionally reserved for the federal government.

In a rare rejection of the governor’s ambitions by Florida’s Republican-led legislature, lawmakers declined to cede that power to DeSantis. Instead, they passed their own immigration package — one that notably excluded the deportation provision and was crafted in consultation with the White House, according to state House Speaker Daniel Perez.

“We were talking to the White House the entire time,” Perez told CNN on Monday. “The product that we finalized was the result of input from the House, the Senate, the governor and the White House. Our goal was to best assist the federal government in doing their job. They needed beds. And that’s what this bill addressed.”

Perez declined to say whom he worked with in the Trump administration. The White House declined to comment.

Perez was seen alongside Trump on multiple occasions this year. He attended the White House Easter Egg Roll and later celebrated the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup victory with the president. DeSantis did not attend either event.

The Floridians in the White House have long memories

As the 2024 Republican primary intensified, DeSantis increasingly criticized Trump’s first-term immigration record, accusing him of failing to deliver on his central promise to build a border wall and force Mexico pay for it.

“If Trump had built the border wall, it would have been very difficult for (President Joe) Biden to bring in all those many people,” DeSantis said during a CNN town hall ahead of the Iowa caucuses. “That’s why you want a wall. It’s a physical fact of life, that even an open-border president would not be able to get around, so I will get the job done.”

After Trump defeated DeSantis, the two did not talk for months. Many in Trump’s orbit harbor ill feelings toward DeSantis, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who once worked for the governor before a bitter falling out.

Lately, Trump and DeSantis have maintained a friendly public rapport. They have golfed together, and DeSantis has vocally defended Trump during public appearances, reprising the role that first endeared him to the president during his time in Congress.

Trump opened a roundtable discussion Tuesday by highlighting his “really great relationship” with DeSantis, although their rivalry didn’t go unmentioned.

“Ron and I have had a really great relationship for a long period of time. We had a little off period for a couple of days, but it didn’t last long,” Trump said, adding, “Lot of respect for each other.”

Returning the praise, DeSantis lauded the president’s leadership. “You can call him anytime and he wants to be helpful for governors.”

Trump has taken a personal interest in the detention facility that DeSantis has moved rapidly to build, the White House official said. The US Department of Homeland Security has approved the plan to temporarily repurpose the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport for use as a detention center. Another site at the Camp Blanding National Guard training center in northeast Florida is also under consideration, DeSantis spokeswoman Molly Best said in a statement to CNN.

The airstrip sits in the middle of the Florida Everglades, an ecosystem dense with alligators, pythons, panthers and marshes that are notoriously difficult to navigate. Its surroundings have captured the immigration of many Republicans, including inside the Trump administration. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested the location will serve as a natural deterrent for people trying to escape. DHS posted an image to social media over the weekend of alligators wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement hats standing guard outside a prison.

“Coming soon!” a caption said.

DeSantis floated the idea of a Trump visit when talking with Fox News on Friday, gesturing toward a runway.

“An invitation from me: We can land Air Force One right there no problem,” he said. “I think the president would be impressed with what the guys are doing out here.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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