MIAMI — After a hearing in federal court on Monday in Downtown Miami, civil rights attorneys said there was more clarity about the migrant detainees’ legal recourse while held in Alligator Alcatraz, in the Florida Everglades.
Since federal immigration judges had canceled hearings related to the detainees’ bond and complaints, civil rights attorneys with the Americans for Immigrant Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to clarify the jurisdiction.
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U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, a Trump 2019 appointee, said there are both federal and state defendants and suggested that perhaps the counts involving federal defendants could remain in the Southern District while the counts pertaining to state defendants may make more sense in the Middle District.
The attorneys representing the federal government agreed that Krome North Service Processing Center’s immigration court had jurisdiction.
“We won a big victory,” said Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the ACLU‘s National Prison Project. “The government has caved on the fact that they are now providing bond hearings ... It is a victory for people being held at the facility, a victory for civil rights, and a victory for immigrants all over the country.”
Civil rights attorneys also claimed detainees’ legal rights were violated with officers pressuring them to sign voluntary removal orders and with delays and requirements that prevented detainees from having private meetings with their attorneys.
“We heard a case of an intellectually disabled man being presented with a paper, and he was told that he should sign the paper to get a blanket, and it turned out to be a voluntary departure form, and he was deported,” Cho said during a virtual interview that aired on Sunday in This Week In South Florida.
The attorneys representing the state of Florida reported that Alligator Alcatraz detainees have had access to video conferences since July 15 and to in-person meetings since July 28.
“The defense has said that they have drafted a policy, with respect to attorney access,” Cho said. “So the question is, if they have drafted something, why haven’t they actually implemented it? The problem with what the government is saying, ‘We are working on it,’ ‘It is going to get fixed soon,’ is that ‘We are going to do it later’ is not okay for constitutional rights.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had presidential aspirations, paved the way for the detention center before President Donald Trump was elected in November to his second term.
In 2023, DeSantis issued an executive order authorizing the Florida Division of Emergency Management to respond to a “state of emergency due to the influx of undocumented immigrants.” Trump declared there was a national emergency in January.
FDOEM contractors such as CDR Maguire and Doodie Calls worked on Miami-Dade County-owned property in Collier County, records showed.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier first announced the existence of Alligator Alley on June 19. DeSantis and Trump toured the cells on July 1 at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
A group of lawmakers toured it on July 12. While Republicans were satisfied, Democrats reported the detainees were held under “disturbing” conditions.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams was presiding over a federal case alleging that environmental regulations were violated during the setup and operation of Alligator Alley.
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida viewed the network of temporary air-conditioned tents and trailers as a threat to their ancestral land and the environment. Williams issued an order to stop construction there from Aug. 7 to Thursday.
Last week, DeSantis announced that the Deportation Depot -- a second state-run detention center for migrant detainees -- will be at a state prison in Baker County. Kevin Guthrie, the director of the FDOEM, said state and federal law requirements are taken into account at the detention facilities.
On Monday afternoon, Ruiz and Williams had yet to rule on the two cases related to Alligator Alcatraz.
Exhibit 10 of the filing, the state’s operational plan and policy, can be found on pages 271-279 in the document below:
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