Alligator Alcatraz must wind down operations, says US federal judge

By Michael Smith and Robert Burnson

 

The sprawling immigrant detention camp known as Alligator Alcatraz must be wound down and dismantled, a federal judge said, dealing a setback to Florida’s push to help President Donald Trump’s campaign to deport millions. 

 

US District Court Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami on Thursday barred immigration authorities from bringing more detainees to the makeshift facility in the Florida Everglades, finding that it was built without a proper environmental review.

 

The judge also ordered state and federal officials within 60 days to remove the fencing, lighting and all “generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project.”  

 

 

A Florida state official filed a notice of appeal. Department of Homeland Security representatives didn’t immediately respond outside regular business hours to a request for comment.

 

Trump administration officials had argued that they didn’t need to go through the normal environmental review process for federal construction projects because the facility was being built by the state of Florida. 

 

But the judge rejected that argument, pointing out that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and immigration officials had asked Florida to build the detention camp and that the administration had pledged $600 million in federal funding.

 

The camp was a key to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ quest to play a high-profile role in Trump’s immigration crackdown. The facility gained national prominence the day it opened in early July, when Trump made a last-minute visit. 

 

Top administration immigration officials described the camp as a template for how Republican-led states can help the president deliver on promises to deport millions of people. At least two red states, Nebraska and Indiana, have announced plans to build similar camps. And DeSantis recently promised to build a second detention facility to house 1,300 immigrant detainees, which he’s dubbed “Deportation Depot.” 

 

The Everglades camp quickly became a lightning rod for opposition to Trump’s heavy-handed immigration crackdown. It drew protesters who decried conditions inside like flooding, mosquito infestation and lack of access to lawyers for detainees who were being bused in.

 

Miami’s Catholic Archbishop, Thomas Wenski, made the camp a symbol of his opposition to Trump’s immigration policy, successfully pressing Florida to allow detainees access to clergy. In late July, he led 25 fellow members of the Knights of Columbus by motorcycle to the camp’s entrance to lead a rosary prayer for the detainees. 

 

Florida went ahead with the camp after receiving the blessing of US officials including border czar Tom Homan and Noem. Florida estimated the facility will cost $450 million in the first year, but it had plans to ask for reimbursement by the federal government.  

 

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier began to call the camp “Alligator Alcatraz,” and the state mobilized a contractor that it normally uses to put up temporary housing after hurricanes to build it. 

 

State officials have said it can hold 3,000 people slated for deportation in cage-like enclosures inside large, air-conditioned tents pitched alongside a training airport runway, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve. 

 

Florida and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had already moved hundreds of migrants into the Everglades and began deportation flights.  

 

Environmental groups including the Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity sued the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and Florida. The groups argued that the operation of an immigration detention center was a federal action that warranted an environmental review.

 

Williams, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued a temporary restraining order earlier this month that stopped workers from adding new infrastructure for two weeks.

 

The preliminary injunction issued by the judge Thursday will remain in place while the litigation plays out — unless the administration gets an appeals court to put it on hold.

 

In her ruling, the judge recalled that in the 1970s, federal and state officials joined together to protect a part of the Everglades that includes Alligator Alcatraz by creating Big Cypress National Preserve.

 

“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.”