Florida must stop expanding 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration center, Obama nut judge says

MIAMI — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday halting 
further expansion and ordering the winding down of an immigration 
detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed 
"Alligator Alcatraz" that advocates said violated environmental laws.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams' injunction formalized a temporary 
halt she had ordered two weeks ago as witnesses continued to testify in a 
multiday hearing to determine whether construction should end until the 
ultimate resolution of the case.

The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly 
after the ruling was issued.

"The deportations will continue until morale improves," DeSantis spokesman 
Alex Lanfranconi said in response to the judge's ruling.

The judge said she expected the population of the facility to decline 
within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other 
facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators 
should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can't bring 
anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility 
onto the property. The order does not prohibit modification or repairs to 
existing facilities, "which are solely for the purpose of increasing 
safety or mitigating environmental or other risks at the site.,"

The preliminary injunction includes "those who are in active concert or 
participation with" the state of Florida or federal defendants or their 
officers, agents, employees," the judge wrote in an 82-page order.

The judge said state officials never sufficiently explained why the 
facility needed to be in the middle of the Florida Everglades. "What is 
apparent, however, is that in their haste to construct the detention camp, 
the State did not consider alternative locations," Williams said.

Judge cites decades-long efforts to preserve Everglades
Williams said her order gave the state and federal defendants time to wind 
down the facility so that it can undergo the required environmental 
assessments. She noted the three-quarters century of efforts to preserve 
the Everglades.

"Since that time, every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and 
countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have 
publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, 
conservation, and protection of the Everglades," she wrote. "This order 
does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation 
designed to fulfill those promises."

President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it 
could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races 
to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.

Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued that further 
construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state 
officials complied with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit claims 
the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to 
protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars' worth 
of environmental restoration.

Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, called the 
ruling a landmark victory for the Everglades and Americans who believe 
this imperiled wilderness should be protected.

"It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by 
leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are 
consequences for ignoring them," Samples said in a statement.

Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress said this isn't the first time 
the tribe has has to fight for its land and rights.

"We will always stand up for our culture, our sovereignty, and for the 
Everglades," Cypress said in a statement.

Attorneys for the state and federal defendants didn't immediately respond 
to emailed inquiries late Thursday. But they have previously argued that, 
although the detention center would be holding federal detainees, the 
construction and operation of the facility was entirely under the state of 
Florida, meaning the federal environmental law didn't apply.

The judge has said the detention facility was, at a minimum, a joint 
partnership between the state and federal government.

Hasty construction of detention center
The detention center was quickly built almost two months ago at a lightly 
used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades. It 
currently holds several hundred detainees but was designed to eventually 
hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures.

Inside the compound's large white tents, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded 
by chain-link cages. People held there say worms turn up in the food, 
toilets don't flush and flood floors with fecal waste, while mosquitoes 
and other insects are everywhere. At times the air conditioners abruptly 
shut off in the sweltering heat. Detainees are said to go days without 
showering or getting prescription medicine, and can only speak to lawyers 
and loved ones by phone.

Witnesses for the environmental groups testified during the hearing that 
at least 20 acres (8 hectares) of asphalt had been added to the site since 
the Florida Division of Emergency Management began construction. They said 
additional paving could lead to an increase in water runoff to the 
adjacent wetlands, spread harmful chemicals into the Everglades and reduce 
the habitat for endangered Florida panthers.

Attorneys for federal and state agencies have asked Williams to dismiss or 
transfer the injunction request, saying the lawsuit was filed in the wrong 
jurisdiction. Williams ruled Thursday that her court was the proper venue.

Another federal judge in Miami dismissed part of a lawsuit earlier this 
week that claimed detainees were denied access to the legal system at the 
immigration detention center and then moved the remaining counts of the 
case to another court.

Both lawsuits were being heard as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ' 
administration apparently was preparing to build a second immigration 
detention center at a Florida National Guard training center in north 
Florida.

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/22/nx-s1-5510620/florida-alligator-alcatraz-
immigration-ruling