Ruling says fencing, lighting and generators at the immigration detention centre in the Florida Everglades should be removed within 60 days
A federal judge has ordered the dismantling of some parts of Donald Trump’s controversial Florida immigration detention centre, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”.
US District Judge Kathleen Williams barred new detainees from being sent to the centre as she sided with environmental groups who had said the facility is endangering the Everglades and its wildlife.
Williams also ordered the dismantling of some aspects of the facility as current detainees are moved out, according to a court filing.
She 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.
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.
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 also noted decades of efforts to preserve the Everglades.
“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.”
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.
The ruling comes weeks after Donald Trump toured the facility and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.
The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly after the ruling was issued.
“The deportations will continue until morale improves,” a spokesman for governor Ron DeSantis said.
(Photo: DHS/X)
Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, called the ruling a landmark victory.
“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,” she said.
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.
People held there say worms turn up in the food, toilets do not 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.
With agencies
