{"id":124267,"date":"2025-08-06T18:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T18:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124267\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T18:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T18:28:10","slug":"floridas-alligator-alcatraz-detention-center-judge-considers-threats-to-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124267\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center: judge considers threats to environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (AP) \u2014 A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention center<\/a> built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d because it didn\u2019t follow environmental laws.<\/p>\n

Until the laws are followed, environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe said U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams should issue a preliminary injunction to halt operations and further construction. The suit claims the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars\u2019 worth of environmental restoration.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit in Miami against federal and state authorities is one of two legal challenges to the South Florida detention center which was built more than a month ago by the state of Florida on an isolated airstrip owned by Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n

A second lawsuit<\/a> brought by civil rights groups says detainees\u2019 constitutional rights are being violated since they are barred from meeting lawyers, are being held without any charges, and a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 18.<\/p>\n

The detention facility has ignored a review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and the lawsuit was meant to assert the public\u2019s rights to make sure environmental harm does not occur, Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, testified in court Wednesday. Samples noted that her organization was founded in 1969 by environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas in response to a failed effort to build a massive airport in the same location.<\/p>\n

An attorney for the state of Florida questioned Samples during cross examination about whether Friends of the Everglades had filed any lawsuits or taken legal action against the airport or its owner, Miami-Dade County, over the past decade. She acknowledged they had not.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictories are sometimes imperfect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When the attorney asked Samples if she agreed with the political decision to detain and deport immigrants, the judge shut down the question, saying the trial would be limited to environmental issues.<\/p>\n

Under the 55-year-old federal environmental law, federal agencies should have examined how the detention center\u2019s construction would impact the environment, identified ways to minimize the impact and followed other procedural rules such as allowing public comment, according to the environmental groups and the tribe.<\/p>\n

It makes no difference that the detention center holding hundreds of detainees was built by the state of Florida since federal agencies have authority over immigration, the suit said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe construction of a detention center is an action that is necessarily subject to federal control and responsibility,\u201d they said in a recent court filing. \u201cThe State of Florida has no authority or jurisdiction to enforce federal immigration law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorneys for federal and state agencies last week asked Judge Williams to dismiss or transfer the injunction request, saying the lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction<\/a>. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida\u2019s southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state\u2019s middle district, they said.<\/p>\n

Williams had yet to rule<\/a> on that argument.<\/p>\n

The lawsuits were being heard as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> \u2032 administration apparently was preparing to build a second immigration detention center<\/a> at a Florida National Guard training center in north Florida. At least one contract has been awarded for what\u2019s labeled in state records as the \u201cNorth Detention Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3425,413,10109,10106,746,6064,723,57,118,76602,409,20149,55831,336,362,380,55832,80,2938,14516,159,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-124267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-civil-rights","10":"tag-climate","11":"tag-climate-and-environment","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-fl-state-wire","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-human-rights","17":"tag-immigrant-detention","18":"tag-immigration","19":"tag-indigenous-people","20":"tag-kathleen-williams","21":"tag-lawsuits","22":"tag-legal-proceedings","23":"tag-miami","24":"tag-mike-schneider","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-prisons","27":"tag-ron-desantis","28":"tag-science","29":"tag-u-s-news","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114983240145337288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}