Environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit on Friday to stop the construction and operation of a detention facility for undocumented immigrants known as Alligator Alcatraz, claiming that it endangers species and ecologically sensitive areas in the Big Cypress National Preserve and the nearby Everglades.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of the Everglades organization filed the complaint, claiming that federal and state agencies have broken regulations that, among other things, demand that possible environmental effects be assessed before such a project can proceed.
At the distant Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, which is utilized for flight training, the facility is currently being built. On Fox News on Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis stated that the admission of undocumented immigrants might begin as early as Tuesday.
According to the lawsuit, there are obvious environmental effects from the site’s hurried conversion into a mass detention facility, which included the installation of housing units, the building of food and sanitation services systems, industrial high-intensity lighting infrastructure, diesel power generators, significant fill material that changed the natural terrain, and the provision of transportation logistics (including the runway’s apparent planned use to receive and deport detainees). The defendants illegally circumvented the necessary environmental studies in their haste to construct the complex. NEPA, a federal legislation known as the National Environmental Policy Act, requires that before taking any action, the direct and indirect harm to neighboring wetlands, wildlife, and the quality of the air and water, as well as workable alternatives, be taken into account.
As Florida officials claim they are working to assist President Donald Trump in his efforts to combat illegal immigration, the project has garnered national notice. DeSantis dismissed concerns about the facility’s potential environmental impact, claiming on Wednesday that opponents are attempting to use the Everglades as a cover for their opposition to immigration enforcement.
DeSantis stated, “It’s not like we’re going to start doing permanent sewer and all the other things.” Everything is transient. We will both set it up and dismantle it. We’ve done this before. There won’t be any effect.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, and Miami-Dade County are named as defendants in the case, which was filed in the federal Southern District of Florida. The site, which is partially in Collier County, is owned by the county.
The federal government will fund the facility, but Florida has taken the lead in its construction and operation.
In the 27-page lawsuit, lawyers from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Earthjustice legal group, and the Coffey Burlington law company argue that the federal and state authorities have broken the Administrative Procedure Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Additionally, they claim that the state Division of Emergency Management lacks independent legislative power to build and run a jail facility and that there has been a breach of the Miami-Dade County statute.
According to the lawsuit, federal agencies are required by the National Environmental Policy Act to conduct environmental impact assessments of projects. For instance, it stated that the proposed detention facility is located in a region that provides habitat for listed and endangered animals, including the Florida panther.
According to the lawsuit, the (detention) facility and related activities will use and negatively impact the Big Cypress National Preserve by directly and indirectly harming its animals, wetlands, and air and water quality. The ecological, scenic, hydrologic, floral, faunal, and recreational assets for which the preserve was established will be deteriorated as a result of these effects.
DeSantis’ interview on Fox News’s Fox & Friends program on Friday revealed a lot of activity at the site, even though the lawsuit is seeking an injunction. DeSantis entered a big tent-like building that would accommodate inmates, as trucks and other vehicles and equipment were visible in the background.
We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the federal government to fulfill President Trump’s directive, and this will be a force multiplier, DeSantis stated.
Tom Urban, Jim Saunders, and the Florida News Service
