A federal judge has ordered the remote detention camp in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” to no longer take additional detainees and remove additional infrastructure added to the site.
The judge issued the preliminary injunction after a federal lawsuit was filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe who are concerned with the impact the facility will have on the environmentally sensitive area.
The order mandates no additional detainees beyond those currently housed at the facility be moved there.
Judge Kathleen Williams also says lighting, fencing and “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project” added to Collier Dade Training and Transition Airport must be removed within 60 days of the order.
Deep in the marshy wetlands of the Everglades, “Alligator Alcatraz” has been mired in controversy since the start, with lawmakers who toured the site describing hundreds of migrants confined in cages amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals.
In her order, Judge Williams wrote “the Court is relying on programmatic attrition of the camp’s population within the next sixty days,” conceding the order effectively shuts the site down.
Questions about who is in charge of “Alligator Alcatraz” whether it be the federal government or the state of Florida have also persisted. Florida says it’s operating the temporary detention camp under agreements between state and local agencies and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But when it comes to day-to-day operations at the facility, and to decisions about who’s detained there, federal officials have said the state is in charge.
Critics argue the lack of clarity around the ultimate responsibility for the facility raises concerns about accountability and oversight.
Elise Pautler Bennet, an attorney with one of the environmental groups that brought the lawsuit praised Judge Williams’ ruling, saying in a statement, “We are so relieved. We feel we presented voluminous evidence that is presented in her (Judge Williams’) order showing this was the right decision to protect the environment and the interest of Americans in the everglades.”
The facility is surrounded by Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and the tribal lands of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, a plaintiff in the case.
The hastily built detention center is a little more than an hour’s drive west of Miami. During a tour of the facility before its opening, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stressed the facility was both temporary and necessary to alleviate the burdens on the state’s law enforcement agencies and jails, which he said were seeing an influx of migrants. It is built on an airstrip and comprises repurposed FEMA trailers and tents, surrounded by a fence.
Friends of the Everglades, another plaintiff in the case, was founded to oppose construction on the very same spot in 1969, Eve Samples, the group’s executive director, told CNN.
This lawsuit against the facility is one of two working its way through the federal court system. A second lawsuit focuses on legal access for those detained at the facility.
In an additional filing, the state of Florida has indicated it will appeal the judge’s ruling.
In response to CNN’s request for comment, Alex Lanfranconi, communications director for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, responded only, “The deportations will continue until morale improves.”
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Florida Division of Emergency Management for comment on the judge’s order.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.
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