MIAMI — Environmental groups on Tuesday asked a federal appellate court panel to drop its temporary halt of a lower court’s order instructing state officials to close an immigration detention center in the heart of the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The site, located inside the Big Cypress National Preserve, has become the center of a legal and environmental showdown.
The Everglades facility remains open, still holding detainees, because the appellate court in early September relied on arguments by Florida and the Trump administration that the state had not yet applied for federal reimbursement, and therefore wasn’t required to follow federal environmental law. State officials opened the detention center last summer to support President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Conservation groups, including Friends of the Everglades, argue the project violates federal environmental law and threatens sensitive wildlife and water systems.
“There is no question of the environmental harm that has been ongoing since last summer at this site and we stand resolute to stop that harm,” Elise Bennett, with the Center for Biological Diversity, said.
The lawsuit also claims the state failed to conduct a proper environmental review as required under federal law.
“There’s no debate about whether the National Environmental Policy Act was complied with and that requires three things,” Eve Samples, with of Friends of the Everglades, said. “It requires an analysis of the government’s actions of the environmental harm; that didn’t occur. It requires public input and consideration of alternatives; none of those three things occurred, as you heard in court today.”
Last August, a federal judge sided with the environmental groups, ordering construction be stopped and operations scaled back.
However, that order was put on hold after state and federal officials appeald, allowing the facility to continue operating while the case moves forward.
Jesse Panuccio, an attorney for the Florida Department of Emergency Management, told the judges on Tuesday federal funding and federal control of the facility were the two criteria for determining if the federal environmental law would apply and the federal agencies had no control over the state-run detention center.
Florida was notified in late September that FEMA had approved $608 million in federal funding to support the center’s construction and operation.
“You need both,” Panuccio said. “Even with funding, I don’t think that would follow because they don’t have federal control.”
The appellate court will decide whether the injunction should be put back in place as the lawsuit heads toward trial. A decision isn’t expected for another few weeks.
The environmental lawsuit was one of three federal court challenges to the Everglades facility since it opened. In the others, a detainee said Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state had no authority to operate the center under federal law. The challenge ended after the immigrant detainee who filed the lawsuit agreed to be removed from the United States.
In the third lawsuit, a federal judge in Fort Myers ruled the Everglades facility must provide detainees there with better access to their attorneys, as well as confidential, unmonitored, unrecorded outgoing legal calls.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
