US EditionFlorida must stop expanding ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration center, judge says
Federal judge halts intake and expansion of Alligator Alcatraz, citing violations of environmental laws and risks to endangered species and tribal lands, affecting about 900 detainees.
- On Aug. 22, U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams issued an 82-page preliminary injunction barring new detainees at Alligator Alcatraz and ordering a wind-down within 60 days.
- Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe sued, alleging federal agencies and Miami-Dade County bypassed the National Environmental Policy Act before building the site.
- Plaintiffs documented the project's rapid assembly in eight days, paving over more than 20 acres, adding parking for 1,200 cars, and planning for 3,000 detainees, with detainees reporting unsanitary conditions and lack of medical care.
- The injunction immediately prohibits installing industrial lighting, paving, fencing, and new detainees at the site, while the State of Florida appeals to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Observers say the injunction is a high-profile environmental-law test because the Trump administration had pitched Alligator Alcatraz as a model, with President Donald Trump touring the site last month.
152 Articles
152 Articles
Judge: 'Alligator Alcatraz' expansion must stop
MIAMI — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday halting further expansion of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" that advocates said violated environmental laws.
U.S. judge orders immigration detention centre in Florida to wind down operations
A federal judge has put a stop to further expansion of the immigration detention centre built in the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz," ordering that its operations wind down within two months.
On Thursday, a judge banned U.S. authorities from taking new prisoners to the migrant detention center known as “Alcatraz de los Caimans” in Florida, and ordered the site to be dismantled within 60 days, considering that it did not comply with environmental standards. Judge Kathleen M. Williams’s order is a stick for the Florida government and the Donald Trump administration, who wanted to turn these facilities into the heart of the Everglades i…
A court has ordered the closure of the notorious "Alligator Alcatraz", but the verdict has nothing to do with Trump's migration policy.
Florida Governor Says He Is Undeterred by Court Ruling on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida vowed on Friday to defend an immigration detention center in the Everglades despite a federal judge’s order that it be shut down. Mr. DeSantis did not address the judge’s findings that the construction of the detention center, known as Alligator Alcatraz, violated a federal law requiring a review of potential environmental harms before such projects are built. “We had a judge try to upset the apple cart with respect …
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