Citing violations of federal environmental law, a federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction blocking further expansion of Alligator Alcatraz, a controversial immigration detention facility in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve.
US District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that state and federal defendants failed to conduct required environmental assessments before constructing the camp within an area that has received over $20 billion in federal and state investment for Everglades restoration efforts. The facility, which began operations in June 2025, can house up to 4,000 immigration detainees and currently holds about 900 people.
On June 27, two environmental groups—Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity—sued to halt the camp’s operations, arguing that defendants violated federal environmental law by rushing to construct the detention center in just eight days without conducting required environmental impact studies. In July, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida intervened, arguing that as residents of traditional villages within Big Cypress National Preserve who have federally and state-recognized rights to use and occupy the land, they will be directly harmed by the facility’s construction and operation without required environmental assessments.
The plaintiffs argued the facility threatens the sensitive Everglades ecosystem through increased runoff from 800,000 square feet of new paving, light pollution affecting the endangered Florida bonneted bat’s critical habitat, and habitat destruction for endangered species including the Florida panther. The location is historically significant as the same site where a proposed “World’s Largest Jetport” was thwarted in the 1960s-70s, a controversy that helped lead to the creation of federal environmental protection laws.
Earlier this month, Williams had issued a temporary halt to construction pending this week’s environmental ruling.
In her ruling Thursday, Judge Williams found the project violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires environmental impact studies for major federal actions. Williams determined the facility constitutes federal action since it was built at the explicit request of the federal government and operates under agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Florida law enforcement agencies.
She issued a preliminary injunction, halting further expansion of the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility, prohibiting defendants from installing additional lighting, paving, buildings, or bringing new immigration detainees to the site, while also ordering the removal within 60 days of temporary fencing (to restore tribal access), industrial lighting fixtures, and waste infrastructure that was installed for the detention project. The ruling allows existing facilities to remain operational for current detainees but effectively freezes the facility at its current capacity and requires the removal of key infrastructure elements that were disrupting the surrounding Big Cypress National Preserve environment and tribal lands.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management built the facility with promised federal reimbursement under a $600 million federal detention support grant program.