Citing Environmental Concerns, Judge Orders Alligator Alcatraz to Wind Down Operations

A federal judge has ordered a winding down of operations at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, the hastily assembled Everglades detention site where the Trump administration aims to incarcerate thousands of undocumented migrants before deporting them.

Judge Kathleen Williams Thursday granted a preliminary injunction for environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which had sued to stop the facility on the grounds that it was rushed to completion without any public comment or environmental review. Such a review is necessary under federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act and also the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires environmental impact statements on major federal actions.

The judge barred the federal and state governments from transporting new detainees to the site, or adding additional paving, fencing or lighting. Williams also ordered the government agencies to remove existing fencing, lighting, generators, gas, sewage and other waste receptacles within 60 days, and as soon as the population at the site has been reduced to a point where the order can be implemented safely. Housing and detention facilities will be allowed to remain.

Williams observed in her order that the detention center was constructed at the same site where a proposal for the world’s largest airport fell through a half-century ago because of environmental concerns. That controversy led to the creation in 1974 of the Big Cypress National Preserve, the nation’s first preserve established to protect the Everglades in this region. The watershed spans much of the peninsula and provides the drinking water of thousands of Floridians.

“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.”

Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, with the Miccosukee Tribe joining in the litigation later on. Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management; and Miami-Dade County, which owns the property, are named as defendants in the complaint. 

“This ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade,” reads a statement provided to Inside Climate News attributed to Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.

“It is another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country. This activist judge doesn’t care about the invasion of our country facilitated by the Biden administration, but the American people do. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”

Guthrie filed an appeal soon after the judge issued her ruling. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the order would not interfere with the state’s efforts to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda of mass deportations. The governor said the state intends to open another detention facility outside of Jacksonville called Deportation Depot, which will house some 2,000 inmates.

“This was not something that was unexpected. This was a judge that was not going to give us a fair shake. This was pre-ordained,” DeSantis said Friday during an event in Panama City touting the state’s immigration enforcement efforts. “This is not going to deter us.”

Alligator Alcatraz lies at the heart of lands that are perpetually leased to the Miccosukee Tribe and part of the Big Cypress National Preserve. During a four-day hearing earlier this month in Miami, the judge considered testimony presented by the environmental groups and tribe on the potential harms to the fragile Everglades, where a $23 billion restoration effort is among the most ambitious of its kind in human history.

Experts said more than 800,000 square feet of new paving had been introduced at the site without any stormwater treatment system to prevent pollutants from flowing into the river of grass. The government agencies attempted to minimize the federal role in the facility, as a state-run site would face a less stringent environmental review. But the judge was not persuaded.

“We welcome the Court’s decision to halt further expansion of this facility, and we will continue to fight to ensure that the government does not dodge its legal requirements for environmental review on seized public lands, sacred to our people,” said Talbert Cypress, chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe. “We will always stand up for our culture, our sovereignty, and for the Everglades. When it comes to our homeland, there is no compromise.”