US EditionTop Florida official says ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ will likely be empty within days, email shows
An email from Florida's Emergency Management Director indicates the detention center will soon hold zero detainees amid ongoing legal battles over environmental and procedural concerns.
- Friday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams ordered Alligator Alcatraz to wind down and clear detainees within sixty days, while the state of Florida appealed and sought a stay from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- The lawsuit by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe alleged officials bypassed required environmental reviews, harming sensitive Everglades wetlands, while the State of Florida argues NEPA does not apply to the state-run facility.
- The facility was rapidly constructed two months ago to hold up to 3,000 detainees as part of a more than 4,000-bed operation with state contracts exceeding $245 million, while civil rights attorneys reported severe issues including detainees held without charges and poor hygiene conditions.
- State lawyers warned the injunction would inflict irreparable harm on enforcement and public safety by straining overcrowded facilities, while environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe countered rapid emptying undermines these hardship claims.
- An email on Aug. 22 from Kevin Guthrie signaled the site could be emptied in days, intersecting with national politics including President Donald Trump's visits and about $400 million in projected costs as the judge ordered clearance by late October.
141 Articles
141 Articles
Florida taxpayers may lose $218M on empty ‘Alligator Alcatraz' as judge orders shutdown
Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for the $218 million cost of converting a training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center that may soon be empty of detainees.
Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention facility to be empty ‘within a few days’
The immigration detention center in Florida’s Everglades that officials have dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" soon will hold no detainees.In an email sent to a South Florida rabbi inquiring about serving as a chaplain at the facility, the director of Florida’s Department of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, replied, “We are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days.”Asked Wednesday about the declining population at the detention…
Florida’s 'Alligator Alcatraz' To Be Completely Emptied of Illegal Migrants in Matter of Days
‘We are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days,’ a state official says in an email exchange regarding chaplaincy services at the detention facility.
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