A Florida judge may decide on Wednesday whether to halt operations at “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, due to environmental concerns.
The facility, which opened in July, is erected on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades inside the Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, Florida. The facility was opened amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migrants and arrests that have led to overcrowding in Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.
Environmental groups filed a June lawsuit to halt the facility’s operations, claiming it was built without mandatory ecological reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The suit also claims the center was built without public notice or comment and in compliance with other state and federal statutes, including the Endangered Species Act.
The Everglades is a marshy habitat for endangered and threatened species like the Florida panther, the Florida bonneted bat, the Everglade Snail kite, the wood stork, and other species, according to the suit.
The construction of the controversial facility also sparked protests in June by environmental activists and Native Americans advocating for their ancestral homelands.
The Wednesday hearing opened at 9 a.m. with Judge Kathleen M. Williams presiding.
Eve Samples, the executive director of Friends of the Everglades, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Everglades and one of the parties who filed the lawsuit, said more than 40,000 people submitted on their website to oppose the detention center.
“We are very concerned about potential impacts of runoff,” as well as “large, new industrial-style lights that are visible from 15 miles away, even though having a dark sky designation,” Samples told the court.
“Driving out there myself many times, the increased traffic is visible, I saw two dead gators last time I visited, so definitely a difference in the area,” she added.
Bryan Griffin, a DeSantis spokesperson, previously said in response to the litigation that the facility was a “necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a preexisting airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment.”
Environmental concerns aside, “Alligator Alcatraz” has been making headlines for an array of other alleged violations.
Detainees have allegedly been barred from meeting with their attorneys and are being held without charges, according to civil rights lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against the facility.
The center has also raised human rights concerns with conditions described as horrific, including cage-like units full of mosquitoes, unsanitary conditions, and a lack of food and reliable medical treatment, according to legal advocates and relatives of immigrant detainees.
NBC Miami has also reported on detainees’ and family members’ allegations of “inhumane conditions”: limited access to showers, spoiled food, extreme heat and mosquito infestations.
“They have no sunlight. There’s no clock in there. They don’t even know what time of the day it is. They have no access to showers. They shower every other day or every four days,” a former corrections officer, identified in the NBC Miami report as Lindsey, said.
The state has denied these claims. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin rejected all allegations of inhumane conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz” and at immigration detention centers across the nation.
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority,” McLaughlin told NBC News last month.
