US Appellate Judges Pause Lower Court Halt of 'Alligator Alcatraz' Building and Operation
Detention facility for suspects arrested for immigration violations in Florida Everglades may remain open while environmental groups challenge it, a federal appellate court ruled.
A federal appeals court in Atlanta has blocked a Miami district court judge’s order that required Florida to shut down and dismantle what was ruled as an illegal immigrant detention center built by the state in the Everglades, deciding Sept. 4 that plaintiffs could not assert it was a federal site that violated a national environmental protection law. A three-judge panel granted, 2-1, a preliminary injunction that allows the facility to operate, expand and receive more detainees while a larger legal challenge continues.
The judges supported requests from Florida and from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security to stay the August order from Judge Kathleen Williams that had required shutdown within 60 days of "Alligator Alcatraz," the facility built on a former state-owned site west of Miami.
According to Williams' ruling, runoff and wastewater discharge from Alligator Alcatraz pose a threat to the water supply of the Miccosukee Tribes, whose members live within a few miles. She said court-reviewed plans and photos showed that facility operation has so far resulted in about 800,000 sq ft of land paved, The Tribe, as well as advocacy groups Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity brought the current legal challenge against the facility.
But the appellate panel said Florida is likely to demonstrate that plaintiffs have failed to state a viable claim of its federal link.
Citing amendments to the National Environmental Policy Act in 2023, the panel said the detention center is operated by the state, not the federal government. It said WIlliams erred in allowing plaintiffs to claim that Alligator Alcatraz was built with federal dollars, despite earlier statements by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida and federal officials that the Trump Administration would possibly reimburse the state for its development costs, estimated at $450 million for construction and operation in the future.
The opinion did say that if the federal government reimburses Florida, or any other state that builds such a facility, that state would then have to conduct an environmental impact review.
"The district court concluded that construction of the facility was fully funded by the federal government,'" said the majority opinion written by Judge Barbara Lagoa. "In reaching that conclusion, the district court largely relied on public statements" by DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as a U.S Justice Dept. court filing in another case, "representing" anticipated full federal funding "To the extent the district court took these statements to mean that Florida may one day be reimbursed for its expenditures ... such an expectancy is insufficient as a matter of law to 'federalize' the action," the ruling said.
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The appellate opinion added that NEPA was a procedural statute and cast doubt on whether anything other than federal dollars could define such a project as federal and require an environmental impact statement and other law provisions. It "simply requires an agency to prepare an [EIS]—in essence, a report," the majority opinion said.
DeSantis reacted to the ruling in a social media video statement, saying the district court judge "ruled implausibly that, somehow, Florida wasn't allowed to use our own property to help the federal government" because officials did not assess environmental impacts of Alligator Alcatraz development."
The environmental groups and the Miccosukkee Tribe could request a hearing before the full appeals court, and already vowed to appeal the stay.
“We’re hopeful the [lower court] preliminary injunction will be affirmed when it’s reviewed on its merits during the appeal,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, in a statement.
The lower court ruling prohibited Florida and federal agencies from installing more lighting, or completing any paving, filling, excavating or other type of site expansion, while also identifying an equipment rental company as a contractor barred from site work. Those are now removed and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said construction would soon begin and more detainees moved to the facility.
DeSantis said Florida also plans two more state detention centers for detainees found to be in the U.S. illegally and accused of immigration violations such as crossing a U.S. border illegally or overstaying a visa, with Indiana and Louisiana announcing similar facilities to be opened.
