Donald Trump’s future presidential library will be housed in downtown Miami at a location selected, in part, because of its proximity to the Freedom Tower, a landmark that played a significant role in helping Cuban refugees migrating to Florida.
Trump’s team has for months been eyeing Florida, where the president is a resident, as the location for the library, which they also hope can be part of a larger development that will include an adjacent hotel. It would be the first presidential library to also be home to a hotel development.
NBC News reported in March that Eric Trump and top Trump adviser Steve Witkoff had made trips to South Florida for site visits to Florida International University, which is in Miami-Dade County, and Florida Atlantic University, located in neighboring Palm Beach County. They met with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had been lobbying to make Florida home to the Trump library.
Both lost out, however, and the formal location will be housed on land currently owned by Miami-Dade College, adjacent to the Freedom Tower and located on the city’s downtown waterfront.
“The final decision was made by the Trumps,” a Trump adviser involved in the process said. “Without question, being near the Freedom Tower was important, but also being on the waterfront.”
The Miami-Dade College location was selected after a site visit by Eric Trump and his team, according to a second person familiar with the process, which ultimately helped clinch the decision. It was selected over Florida Atlantic University.
The formal decision to dedicate the land for the library will be voted on next week by the Florida Cabinet, which includes DeSantis and three other Republican statewide elected officials. The vote is expected to be unanimous, which will formally start the process of bringing Trump’s library to Miami.
“I can think of no better location to tell the story of Donald Trump,” Florida Attorney General James Uthemeier, a member of the Florida Cabinet, said Tuesday in a video posted on X. “A story of strength, one of redemption, one of victory, and one of sacrifice for the American people.”
The Freedom Tower played a significant role in the migration of Cuban refugees fleeing Fidel Castro’s regime. Between 1962 and 1974, it served as a processing center for hundreds of thousands of Cubans who migrated to Florida.
“Back in the 1950s, Cuban families arrived here fleeing the terrors of communism,” Uthmeier said, who also helped with the site selection process. “This location serves as a symbol of freedom.”
The Freedom Tower was also the site of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential launch, and has long been a venue for major Florida political events.
The Trump administration has ended the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan parole program, a Joe Biden-era policy that allowed citizens from those countries with a sponsor to stay in the United States for up to two years and apply for work permits. The move impacted 500,000 people from those countries.
The GOP-dominated Florida state Legislature paved the way for the Trump library, passing legislation this year that would remove the ability of local authorities to oversee the construction of any presidential library. The bill was aimed to box out Democratic-leaning local officials in South Florida from having control over decision-making related to construction.
Though Trump won Miami-Dade County in 2024, with heavy support from traditionally GOP-leaning Cuban voters, it has historically been a Democratic stronghold in the state, and the party still has a strong presence locally.
That legislation was passed, in part, because of a 2006 legal fight between Trump and Palm Beach officials over an 80-foot pole flying an American flag. The flag flew over a Trump golf course, and local officials said it was larger than allowed by town ordinance. The issue was later settled, allowing for a 70-foot flagpole in a different location.
“After the flap over the size of Trump’s flag, I don’t want my president getting in trouble for being too patriotic ever again,” Orlando-area Republican state Sen. Jason Brodeur, one of the Trump library bill’s sponsors, told NBC News in March.
