A federal judge has slapped a temporary halt on construction at Florida’s massive Everglades detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” siding, for now, with environmental activists and the Miccosukee Tribe who claim the state’s fast-tracked facility is wreaking havoc on a sensitive ecosystem.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered a two-week halt to construction at an immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” as she considers whether it violates environmental laws.The facility was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport and can hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures.
The order from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams blocks new lighting, paving, filling, excavating, or fencing, along with any new buildings or tents, though immigration enforcement will continue.
District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered the state to, at the very least, stop installing additional lighting, infrastructure, pavement, filling or fencing and to halt excavation for 14 days. She called the request for the temporary restraining order from the plaintiffs, which represent environmental groups, “pretty reasonable” to prevent further interruption to the ecosystem. The judge, an Obama-era appointee, said the plaintiffs had introduced evidence of “ongoing environmental harms.”
Four activist groups, Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, and the Miccosukee Tribe, claim Florida and the federal government skirted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by rushing construction without public comment or environmental review.
In a lawsuit, Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice and the Miccosukee Tribe say the rushed construction of the facility — dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ by state officials — without public input or an environmental impact statement violates federal law.
Florida officials reject that argument, saying the state runs the site and NEPA doesn’t apply, even though the facility holds federal detainees. Williams wasn’t buying it, hinting she believed the partnership may have been designed to dodge federal rules based on Florida’s attorney Jesse Pannuccio’s answers.
Panuccio said during the hearing that although the detention center would be holding federal detainees, the construction and operation of the facility is entirely under the state of Florida, meaning the NEPA review wouldn’t apply.…Williams said Thursday that the detention facility was, at a minimum, a joint partnership between the state and federal government.
Environmental witnesses testified the site’s 20 acres of fresh pavement will send polluted runoff into protected wetlands.
They also warned that endangered Florida panthers could lose more than 2,000 acres of habitat due to lighting, traffic, and noise from the detention center.
Randy Kautz, a wildlife ecologist who helped write the state’s Panther Recovery plan, said because of the bright lights, increased traffic and human presence at the site, Florida panthers would be pushed out of at least 2,000 acres of their habitat.
Activists celebrated the ruling, while Governor Ron DeSantis’ office pushed back hard, saying the pause won’t slow deportations.
“Alligator Alcatraz will remain operational, continuing to serve as a force multiplier to enhance deportation efforts,’ spokesperson Alex Lanfranconi said in a statement.
The two-week restraining order holds while the legal fight plays out, with the next hearing set for Tuesday, the 12th.
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