A federal judge in Florida on Thursday night issued a significant ruling regarding the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in the Everglades, curbing the government’s use of the controversial site on multiple fronts.
Florida officials quickly filed a notice with the court that they’re appealing the ruling.
Finding that the government ran afoul of environmental and administrative requirements, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction that bars further construction or the bringing of new detainees to the site. Her order also calls the continued operation of the existing facilities into question, by giving the government 60 days to remove fencing, lighting fixtures, and “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project.”
Williams noted that her order doesn’t stop the government from making modifications or repairs to existing facilities for safety or to mitigate environmental or other risks.
The Obama appointee wrote that politicians have historically pledged to support the protection of the Everglades and that her order “does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.”
The ruling follows her previous temporary restraining order that had halted construction.
Environmental groups sued federal and state officials, seeking to “prevent further irreparable harm to Plaintiffs and the fragile area where Defendants are building this detention center.” The plaintiffs argued in their complaint that the “hasty” construction of the mass detention facility “poses clear environmental impacts.” They also said the government defendants broke environmental law “in their rush to build the center.”
The Trump administration argued that the plaintiffs failed to show that the detention center would harm wildlife or the enjoyment of natural environments.
But Williams wrote in her preliminary injunction ruling that, for example, the Florida panther “has lost 2,000 acres of habitat as a result of the facility’s construction and use of intense lights disturbing the habitats of these nocturnal creatures,” and that “several witnesses testified about how the facility’s light pollution has adversely affected their ability to observe the night sky.” The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida joined the suit as plaintiffs, asserting their own interests for having “lived in and cared for the land now known as the Big Cypress National Preserve (the ‘Preserve’) since time immemorial.” The tribe explained that, “For generations, the Miccosukee people made pilgrimages from north Florida to the Everglades, including the Preserve, to fish, hunt, trap, and hold sacred ceremonies.” Williams’ preliminary injunction specified that the removal of fencing she ordered is “to allow Tribe members access to the site consistent with the access they enjoyed before the erection of the detention camp.” Conditions at the site were described in a separate lawsuit as “harsh and inhumane,” with detainees allegedly “told that they are only allowed one meal a day (and given only minutes to eat), are not permitted daily showers, and are otherwise kept around the clock in a cage inside a tent.” The administration has denied all allegations of inhumane conditions. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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