Photos released by an environmental law group reveal additional construction using what looks to be asphalt, despite Governor Ron DeSantis’ insistence that the Everglades’ immigrant detention camp is temporary.
Environmental organizations filed a lawsuit and almost immediately criticized the detention center’s opening, stating that it was inappropriate to build in the extremely fragile Big Cypress National Preserve.
DeSantis dismissed environmental concerns as unfounded, asserting that any garbage would be removed and that building was done over pre-existing facilities, such as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport’s tarmac and taxiway.
Friends of the Everglades, one of the organizations suing state and federal officials, released aerial photos on Saturday that show newly paved-over regions and property with vegetation removed.
From about 15 miles away, the detention center’s newly paved roads and the light illuminating the night sky are depicted in other photos that Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity submitted as evidence in the lawsuit. Evidence demonstrates how the paved areas changed both before and during construction.
The organizations sent a letter to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Thursday, arguing that the environmental effects would be catastrophic. Defendants cannot evade their obligations under federal law by hiding from this reality or the public on false pretenses.
The organizations are suing Miami-Dade County, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claiming that the detention center’s construction violates a federal law requiring environmental analysis of potential harms and that the public was not given a chance to comment.
In an email to Florida Phoenix, an FDEM representative stated that the governor is entirely correct and that Alligator Alcatraz was constructed solely on paved areas and runway infrastructure that already existed. Those pictures all depict paved sections that were already there.
DeSantis stated at a press conference in Jacksonville on Monday that the temporary buildings from the 3,000-person tent and trailer detention facility would eventually be dismantled and relocated. Following the public opening of the detention facility he named Alligator Alcatraz, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier declared on Wednesday that hundreds of people would be arriving at the facility that evening.
He answered, “What we’re doing is temporary.” On these sites, we will not create permanent sites. The location in South Florida is merely a huge airport situated in the Everglades.
In its response to the lawsuit last week, the federal government disassociated itself from the site, claiming that federal regulations did not apply because it did not finance or approve the center’s development.
During his visit on July 1, President Donald Trump praised Uthmeier for his contribution to the detention center’s establishment.
“I understand that some environmental groups are criticizing you, but I take it all the time,” the president stated. It is an honor.
