MIAMI — Local 10 News obtained documents that continue to shed light on which private companies the state of Florida contracted to help build and operate “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Watch the Local 10 Special: The Road to Alligator Alcatraz
The documents also show a continued investment of millions of taxpayer dollars.
One example is an October purchase order to supplier GardaWorld Federal Services for $2 million for barber services and translators, including overtime hours.
The detention center has also faced legal challenges. One includes environmental groups like Friends of the Everglades.
Related links: Judge’s ruling against ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center could affect detainee rights case, ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to stay open for now as panel pauses federal judge’s ruling
Appellate court oral arguments had been scheduled for January, but the court placed proceedings on hold due to the government shutdown.
“We’re seeing Department of Justice counsel file notices that they’re back to work in many of our other cases and they should be doing the same here so the case can proceed and justice is not further delayed for the Everglades, Big Cypress National Preserve, endangered wildlife and the people who care about them,” Elise Pautler Bennett, a director and senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff, said in a statement to Local 10 News. “(The) next steps would be resetting briefing deadlines and the oral argument date.”
On Friday, the federal defendants updated the court, letting it know that President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that provides “funding for the Department of Justice and other federal agencies” and proposing a briefing schedule to “restart appellate proceedings.”
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