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A federal judge says the Trump administration must halt construction, stop bringing new detainees, and begin winding down operations at the mass detention center in the Big Cypress National Preserve known as Alligator Alcatraz.
“This is a landmark victory for the Everglades and countless Americans who believe this imperiled wilderness should be protected, not exploited,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them.”
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a temporary restraining order on Aug, 7, which put a stop to new construction and any additional infrastructure at Alligator Alcatraz for two weeks.
Late in the evening on Aug. 21 she doubled-down on the restraining order, saying the state and federal government should pack everything up at Alligator Alcatraz and prepare to shut down the facility.
This preliminary injunction will last until the trial is complete.
The ruling stems from a June 27 lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and joined by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
“This ruling affirms what we argued in court — that the government can’t just build something in the middle of the Everglades and the Big Cypress preserve with no environmental review, and no public input,” said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for the Florida office of Earthjustice. “This is why we have environmental laws — to protect the wetlands and ecosystems we all depend on from illegal development.”
Others said the detainment facility is a clear violation of major federal laws put in place to protect wildernesses like the Big Cypress and Everglades National Park.
“The state and federal government paved over 20 acres of open land, built a parking lot for 1,200 cars and 3,000 detainees, placed miles of fencing and high-intensity lighting on site and moved thousands of detainees and contractors onto land in the heart of the Big Cypress National Preserve, all in flagrant violation of environmental law,” said Paul Schwiep, counsel for Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Protestors gather at the entrance of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. It is being transformed into a detention center that is known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.
More: Naples Daily News reporter Chad Gillis describing the scene outside Alligator Alcatraz
Alligator Alcatraz sprang to existence early this year, after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on social media that a detention facility would be constructed at the old jetport in rural eastern Collier County.
That facility has been managed and maintained by Miami-Dade County for decades but was taken over by the state when Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency, which allowed the construction of the center to bypass staff review, public comment and permitting.
A campground is lit up at night with the Milky Way overhead. The photo was taken near Skillet Strand in the Big Cypress National Preserve, a 730,000-acre conservation property where Alligator Alcatraz is being built.
Typically a facility proposed within the boundaries of a National Park Service preserve must go through extensive federal review, a process that can take years.
Alligator Alcatraz was up and running in a matter of days, by July 2.
More: Hundreds flock to Clyde Butcher’s gallery to hear him speak on Alligator Alcatraz
The defendants in the case include the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and Miami-Dade County.
In another case focusing on plaintiffs legal and civil rights, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz ruled Aug. 18 the matter should move to a different court while also declaring part of the lawsuit moot.
At the heart of the case was whether the government had violated detainees’ rights to due process and legal counsel. Civil rights attorneys had said the remote Everglades facility made it nearly impossible for immigrants to speak confidentially with lawyers or even find out which immigration court can hear their cases. The plaintiffs’ attorneys filed suit in the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami-Dade County, though state and federal officials argued that it should have been filed in the Middle District of Florida, which includes Collier County.
In his 47-page order, Ruiz agreed, transferring the case to the middle district. He also dismissed the immigration-court allegations in the lawsuit, saying they were moot after a federal decision that judges at Krome North Processing Service Center would handle the detainees’ cases.
The case now heads to “a sister court in the Middle District of Florida to reach the merits of plaintiffs’ remaining claims under the First Amendment,” Ruiz wrote.
Amy Bennett Williams contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Alligator Alcatraz: Judge moves to shut down Florida detention center
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