DeSantis Proposes Miami Site for Trump Library

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will propose at the Sept. 30 meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund conveying a 2.63-acre parcel of Miami‑Dade College’s Wolfson Campus—currently an employee parking lot adjacent to the Freedom Tower—for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. The board, which DeSantis chairs and which includes the attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner, will vote on the proposal; Attorney General James Uthmeier has publicly pledged to vote yes as he seeks Trump’s endorsement. DeSantis said the project would honor Trump’s legacy and create jobs and economic development, and if approved it would be the first presidential library established in Florida. Florida’s Republican legislature has passed a law to preempt local rules that could block such a project, and the foundation leading the library can accept non‑tax‑deductible political and foreign contributions before receiving IRS approval. The choice of a site next to the Freedom Tower—a Cuban‑exile landmark and recent protest site—and its proximity to Trump‑linked properties in South Florida have heightened political and cultural sensitivities around the proposal.