A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” because it didn’t follow environmental laws.
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’ worth of environmental restoration.
RELATED LINK: Environmentalists continue fight to preserve area where Everglades detention camp was built
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.
A second lawsuit brought by civil rights groups says detainees’ 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.
WATCH: Hear from state lawmaker who toured facility
The detention facility has ignored a review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and the lawsuit was meant to assert the public’s 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.
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.
“Victories are sometimes imperfect,” she said.
First witness: Eve Samples, Friends of the Everglades Exec Dir., who explains nonprofit’s “origin story” – founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 she says to stop the development of a Jetport at same location of what state calls ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ https://t.co/0myMMI4rWQ
— Christina Boomer Vazquez, M.S. (@CBoomerVazquez) August 6, 2025
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.
The attorney had told the judge he was trying to “probe” for “bias.”
“I don’t think we are going to go down that road,” the judge said.
The new detention facility would likely lead to an immediate reduction in habitat for endangered Florida panthers and would likely increase the risk of panthers killing each other or being hit by vehicles, Randy Kautz, a wildlife ecologist and former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission researcher, testified.
Kautz cited studies showing panthers generally stay at least 650 feet (200 meters) from areas with human activity and 1,600 feet (500 meters) away from bright artificial lights at night, translating to about 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of potentially lost habitat surrounding “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, who took a July 12 tour of the facility with other state and federal lawmakers, in court described an active construction site with recently-erected tents, new asphalt and temporary lights. Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie told members of the tour that the facility would be able to hold 4,000 detainees by the end of August and the center had about 1,000 workers, some of whom lived at the facility and others who commuted, said Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat.
Amber Crooks, a member of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs, said she saw no review notice that the detention center had opened, as required by the federal law, during her regular visits to the Everglades.
Under the 55-year-old federal environmental law, federal agencies should have examined how the detention center’s 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.
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.
“The construction of a detention center is an action that is necessarily subject to federal control and responsibility,” they said in a recent court filing. “The State of Florida has no authority or jurisdiction to enforce federal immigration law.”
Legal analyst David Weinstein, who’s not involved in the case, said if the judge were to rule in the plaintiffs’ favor, Alligator Alcatraz would need to stop operating until an environmental impact analysis is performed.
“That means shut it down, stop it, send those people elsewhere, do an impact statement, and when you are done with that, you may have to tear the whole thing down, or you can start operating it again,” he said.
But the judge could just rule to halt new construction, Weinstein said.
“If she says cease and desist to everything that is going on, then, yes, they would have to move the people who are there out of there because that would no longer be authorized to exist where it is because there is no impact statement,” he said. “However, if what she says is cease and desist (to) any new construction, but you can continue to do what you have done until further order, or hearings or rulings, that is perhaps a middle-of-the-road position she can take.”
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. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, they said.
Williams had yet to rule on that argument.
The lawsuits were being heard as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ′ administration apparently was preparing to build a second immigration detention center at a Florida National Guard training center in north Florida. At least one contract has been awarded for what’s labeled in state records as the “North Detention Facility.”
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Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social
A federal judge on Wednesday is hearing arguments over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” because it didn’t follow environmental laws.
A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” because it didn’t follow environmental laws.
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’ worth of environmental restoration.
RELATED LINK: Environmentalists continue fight to preserve area where Everglades detention camp was built
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.
A second lawsuit brought by civil rights groups says detainees’ 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.
WATCH: Hear from state lawmaker who toured facility
The detention facility has ignored a review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and the lawsuit was meant to assert the public’s 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.
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.
“Victories are sometimes imperfect,” she said.
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.
The attorney had told the judge he was trying to “probe” for “bias.”
“I don’t think we are going to go down that road,” the judge said.
The new detention facility would likely lead to an immediate reduction in habitat for endangered Florida panthers and would likely increase the risk of panthers killing each other or being hit by vehicles, Randy Kautz, a wildlife ecologist and former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission researcher, testified.
Kautz cited studies showing panthers generally stay at least 650 feet (200 meters) from areas with human activity and 1,600 feet (500 meters) away from bright artificial lights at night, translating to about 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of potentially lost habitat surrounding “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, who took a July 12 tour of the facility with other state and federal lawmakers, in court described an active construction site with recently-erected tents, new asphalt and temporary lights. Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie told members of the tour that the facility would be able to hold 4,000 detainees by the end of August and the center had about 1,000 workers, some of whom lived at the facility and others who commuted, said Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat.
Amber Crooks, a member of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs, said she saw no review notice that the detention center had opened, as required by the federal law, during her regular visits to the Everglades.
Under the 55-year-old federal environmental law, federal agencies should have examined how the detention center’s 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.
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.
“The construction of a detention center is an action that is necessarily subject to federal control and responsibility,” they said in a recent court filing. “The State of Florida has no authority or jurisdiction to enforce federal immigration law.”
Legal analyst David Weinstein, who’s not involved in the case, said if the judge were to rule in the plaintiffs’ favor, Alligator Alcatraz would need to stop operating until an environmental impact analysis is performed.
“That means shut it down, stop it, send those people elsewhere, do an impact statement, and when you are done with that, you may have to tear the whole thing down, or you can start operating it again,” he said.
But the judge could just rule to halt new construction, Weinstein said.
“If she says cease and desist to everything that is going on, then, yes, they would have to move the people who are there out of there because that would no longer be authorized to exist where it is because there is no impact statement,” he said. “However, if what she says is cease and desist (to) any new construction, but you can continue to do what you have done until further order, or hearings or rulings, that is perhaps a middle-of-the-road position she can take.”
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. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, they said.
Williams had yet to rule on that argument.
The lawsuits were being heard as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ′ administration apparently was preparing to build a second immigration detention center at a Florida National Guard training center in north Florida. At least one contract has been awarded for what’s labeled in state records as the “North Detention Facility.”
___
Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social
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