In the Florida Everglades, work progresses in early July on the new immigrant detention facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)
A federal judge in Miami gave the state of Florida 60 days to clear out the immigrant detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz, handing environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians a win after they clashed with Gov. Ron DeSantis over the environmental impacts the makeshift site was having in the federally protected Everglades.
The ruling late Thursday from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, which forbids state officials from moving any other migrants there, deals a blow to what had become a marquee symbol of President Donald Trump's immigration policy.
In July, he and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem toured the facility of trailers and tents, erected with chain-link fencing atop an old airstrip and intended for what Trump described as the "most vicious" migrants. By detaining them there, "we're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator," he said. "We're surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation."
But it was the location the state chose that plagued the facility from the start, according to critics.
In her ruling, Williams said an environmental assessment was required before the site was erected in the Everglades, but "the Defendants chose not to do so."
Despite what DeSantis described as a facility that would have "zero" impact on the surrounding wetlands and native species, Williams cited experts who testified and said the project will have "considerable environmental impacts" and would have required review by relevant federal agencies."
The order expands the pause on new construction that Williams set in a temporary restraining order two weeks ago and directs the state and federal governments and contractors to begin dismantling the center, including fencing, lighting, generators and all waste receptacles "that were installed to support this project."
The isolated airstrip sits deep in Big Cypress National Preserve, near the border with Everglades National Park. A 10,499-foot runway is all that remains of a 1960s plan to build the world's largest airport. Environmentalists, led by renowned Everglades conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, managed to thwart the project and get the federal government to protect nearly a million wetland acres.
The site has no electricity, so everything is powered by generators, including portable air conditioners. Drinking and bathing water has to be trucked in, and sewage, trash and wastewater trucked out.
Environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians sued under the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to "prepare detailed statements assessing the environmental impact of and alternatives to major federal actions significantly affecting the environment."
The first tents and detention cages went up on June 23 after the state seized the property from Miami-Dade County under a two-year-old emergency order issued by DeSantis (R). He said he wanted Alligator Alcatraz to be a "force multiplier" for Trump's aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
It would house up to 5,000 men and women awaiting deportation, according to the governor, though to date its greatest count has been about 1,000 people. U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D) visited Wednesday to try meeting relatives of constituents and said afterward that only 346 men were there.
A separate lawsuit over detainees' legal rights, brought by the ACLU and other groups, was in part dismissed late Monday when U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz ruled some of their claims moot. He then moved the remainder of the case to a different jurisdiction.
Dozens of House and Senate Democrats pressed Noem this week for more details about the facility and the department's role in supporting it.
"Given that DHS is working directly with the Florida state government on a detention facility with alarming implications, DHS should ensure transparency and accountability surrounding the facility's financing operations," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) and 63 other Democrats wrote in a letter to the secretary and other administration officials.
The governor maintained from the start that Alligator Alcatraz would have "zero environmental" impact in the short or long term, with the Everglades eventually overtaking the site once the state ends the temporary operation. The Florida Division of Emergency Management, an agency usually tasked with natural-disaster preparation, built the facility in eight days.
Environmentalists presented photos and other evidence in court that showed the state paved over at least 20 adjacent acres of wetlands. Security lighting there turned a DarkSky International location -- one of only two in the Southeast -- into a brightly lit compound visible from 15 miles away.
A July 29 "Preliminary Ecological Assessment" by a state contractor noted at least 10 endangered or threatened species in the area, including the Florida panther, the Everglade snail kite, wood storks and the bonneted bat.
The DeSantis administration said in court documents that the study determined "there would not be meaningful impacts on species native to the area." Attorneys for the state wrote that contractors who built the site installed silt fences and 40 speed bumps on the service road leading to the facility. A drainage basin "to provide further protection for surrounding wetlands" was under construction, they noted.
Williams issued an initial restraining order in early August that halted additional construction.
Last week, DeSantis moved to convert an old prison in North Florida into a second immigrant detention site, which he named "Deportation Depot." Some Democratic lawmakers said the announcement signaled that the state was worried about having to close down Alligator Alcatraz and find a place for the detainees there.
Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.