A federal judge in Miami has ordered that no more immigrant detainees be sent to the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz. On Thursday, Judge Kathleen M. Williams of the Federal District Court in Miami gave both branches of the government 60 days to move out existing detainees and begin to remove fencing, lighting, power generators and other materials, according to the New York Times. The order also will not allow any new construction on the site.
Alligator Alcatraz faced several lawsuits and was a hotbed for complaints, citing its poor conditions and environmental concerns, which played a role in the decision to temporarily end operations at the site.
From The New York Times:
Judge Kathleen M. Williams of the Federal District Court in Miami found that the state and federal governments had violated a federal law that requires an environmental review before any major federal construction project. Judge Williams partly granted a preliminary injunction sought by environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose members live in the area.
Alligator Alcatraz sits within the federally protected Everglades and Judge Williams warned the detention center would have “considerable environmental impacts” on both the wetlands and the communities that rely on them
“The project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area,” she wrote.
The horrid conditions at the site have been well documented.
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.”
Source: CHANDAN KHANNA / Getty
It’s important to note that Judge Williams’ ruling is preliminary and the state immediately filed a notice saying it will appeal.
As previously reported by NewsOne, to build the facility, developers temporarily repurposed the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, which Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier described as “an old, virtually abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades.”
The land was supposed to house the Everglades Jetport, one of the biggest, most ambitious airport projects of that time. The plan was abandoned after just one runway was built, over concerns it would “destroy the South Florida ecosystem,” according to a 1969 report.
