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“Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigration detention center nestled in the Florida Everglades, has been allowed to continue its operations following a recent ruling by an appeals court. On Tuesday, the court upheld a previous decision preventing the closure of the facility, which had been ordered by a judge for non-compliance with federal environmental regulations.
In a 2-1 vote, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the facility, managed by the state, is not bound by federal laws that mandate an environmental impact assessment. “Florida, not federal, officials constructed the facility,” the majority opinion stated. “They control the land and ‘entirely’ built the facility at state expense.”
This legal contention stems from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a federal statute that obliges agencies to evaluate environmental consequences before undertaking significant actions. The court’s decision emphasized that the state-run facility falls outside the jurisdiction of federal oversight and thus is not required to adhere to NEPA’s stipulations.
The appeals court’s ruling underscores the complex interplay between state and federal jurisdictions, particularly when it comes to environmental legislation and the construction of state-managed facilities. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The appeals court found the state-run facility was not under federal control and did not need to comply with federal law requiring an environmental impact review. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The court wrote that Florida had received no federal reimbursement when U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ preliminary injunction ordering a gradual winding down of operations was issued last year. Williams had found that a federal reimbursement plan had effectively already been made.
The appeals court paused Williams’ order just days after it was handed down in August, pending a hearing, which was held earlier this month.
In a dissent to the appeals court’s latest ruling, Judge Nancy Abudu wrote that immigration is a federal responsibility and that the federal government cannot relinquish its authority just because Florida officials built an immigration detention center.
“The facility would not, and could not, have been built and used as an immigration detention center without the federal defendants’ request,” Abudu said. “The evidence of federal control perhaps is most apparent when we acknowledge that immigration remains uniquely and exclusively within the federal government’s domain.”
The detention center was constructed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. (Getty Images)
Two of the environmental groups that brought the lawsuit — Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity — said they would continue pursuing the case as it returns to Williams for further litigation.
“This fight is far from over,” Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said in a statement. “Alligator Alcatraz was hastily erected in one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country without the most basic environmental review at immense human and ecological cost.”
The facility is located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport site, an area surrounded by protected wetlands within the Everglades ecosystem, according to court filings.
Officials in the Sunshine State also built a second immigration detention center in northern Florida.
Environmental advocates protest against the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in Florida. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Earlier this month, a lawyer for two migrants detained at “Alligator Alcatraz” said in a court declaration that guards severely beat and pepper-sprayed detainees, causing injuries to their heads, shoulders and wrists.
“The officers beat several people during this incident and broke another detained individual’s wrist,” lawyer Katherine Blankenship wrote.
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