Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum toured Alcatraz Island in California on Thursday to advance a proposal to reopen the former federal prison.

Bondi and Burgum left the island after discussing the facilities with park police and directing staff to collaborate on planning to rehabilitate and reopen the facility without making public remarks. But in an exclusive Fox News interview Burgum posted on social media, he said “Alcatraz is the brand known around the world for being effective at housing people that are in incarceration.”

“This is something that we’re here to take a look at,” Burgum continued. “It’s a federal property, its original use was a prison, and so part of this would be to test the feasibility about returning it back to its original use.”

In May, President Trump proposed converting Alcatraz — now one of San Francisco’s most visited tourist attractions — back into a high-security federal prison for violent offenders. Alcatraz island is currently part of a national park under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. If reopened as a prison, the facility itself would be operated by the Bureau of Prisons, which is under the Department of Justice.

The tour drew immediate condemnation from Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker who represents San Francisco, who revealed it in a news release Wednesday afternoon.

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

Burgum also posted on social media about the trip that he: “Spent the day on Alcatraz Island… to start the work to renovate and reopen the site to house the most dangerous criminals and illegals.”

Bondi posted on social media as well: “A great morning at Alcatraz… Under President Trump, we are Making America Safe Again.”

But reopening the island would be a major undertaking. It remains unclear how the federal government would reclaim the island, which has operated as a park and museum since the early 1970s. The National Park Service currently maintains the site, which draws more than a million visitors each year. Removing the island’s national park status would require a vote of Congress.

Even if the plan passes the numerous bureaucratic hurdles and regulations before it, construction on the rocky island could be prohibitively expensive.

Pelosi framed the visit as a “diversionary tactic” to draw attention away from his recently passed tax and domestic policy bill that would expand tax cuts while also adding more than $3 trillion to the national debt.

There’s another story that the Trump administration may also be trying to get away from: this week, Bondi has faced scrutiny over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Frustration has mounted amongst Trump supporters as well as critics over the administration’s failure to release documents tied to the investigation of Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking and later found dead in his jail cell in 2019.

Earlier this month, Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social that he had seen renderings of a new site.

“We’re going to look into renovating and rebuilding the famous ALCATRAZ Prison sitting high on the Bay, surrounded by sharks. What a symbol it is, and will be!”

In a statement posted to social media Thursday morning, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said that there was no “realistic plan for Alcatraz to host anyone other than visitors.”

“If the federal government has billions of dollars to spend in San Francisco, we could use that funding to keep our streets safe and clean and help our economy recover,” he continued.

Democratic Rep. Kevin Mullin, whose district includes California’s San Mateo County, said Trump’s “administration cares more about sensational headlines than fiscal responsibility.”

“Not only is this proposal infeasible and illegal, it would be extremely costly and irresponsible considering he just tacked on another $4 trillion to our nation’s debt,” Mullin said, adding that “the only person that needs to be locked up in Alcatraz is Trump.”

Local officials and historians have questioned the practical and symbolic implications of converting the island back into a penitentiary. Alcatraz housed some of America’s most notorious criminals during its 29 years of operation, including Al Capone.

“It’s nowhere near a functioning island by any means,” said San Francisco historian John Martini previously told The Mercury News.

The main prison has been deteriorating for years, save for some seismic upgrades that made it safe for visitors. Back in 1962, the Bureau of Prisons weighed making upgrades to the prison, but it would have cost $5 million — or $52 million today.

“The reason it is not a prison now is because of the daunting challenges from six decades ago,” Martini said. “The idea that we’re going to forget all that and pick up where we left off during the JFK administration — let’s just say there will be a lot of challenges.”