MIAMI — A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction of an immigration detention center — built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” — because it didn't follow environmental laws.
Until the laws are followed, environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe said U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams should issue a preliminary injunction to halt operations and further construction. The suit claims the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars’ worth of environmental restoration.
The lawsuit in Miami against federal and state authorities is one of two legal challenges to the South Florida detention center that was built more than a month ago by the state of Florida on an isolated airstrip owned by Miami-Dade County.
A second lawsuit brought by civil rights groups says detainees’ constitutional rights are being violated since they are barred from meeting lawyers, are being held without any charges, and a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 18.
The detention facility has ignored a review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and the lawsuit was meant to assert the public’s rights to make sure environmental harm does not occur, Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, testified in court Wednesday.
The new detention facility would likely lead to an immediate reduction in habitat for endangered Florida panthers and would likely increase the risk of panthers killing each other or being hit by vehicles, Randy Kautz, a wildlife ecologist and former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission researcher, testified.
Kautz cited studies showing panthers generally stay at least 650 feet from areas with human activity and 1,600 feet away from bright artificial lights at night, translating to about 2,000 acres of potentially lost habitat surrounding “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, who took a July 12 tour of the facility with other state and federal lawmakers, in court described an active construction site with recently-erected tents, new asphalt and temporary lights. Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie told members of the tour that the facility would be able to hold 4,000 detainees by the end of August and the center had about 1,000 workers, some of whom lived at the facility and others who commuted, said Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat.
Jessica Namath, a member of Friends of the Everglades, testified that she’s been protesting near the entrance of the detention facility regularly since it opened. She described seeing a constant parade of work trucks and other heavy machinery. She said she’s been visiting the Everglades and the area around the detention center for years, and it now looks “heartbreakingly different.”
Namath is the daughter of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, who attended Wednesday’s hearing but didn’t speak.
Under the 55-year-old federal environmental law, federal agencies should have examined how the detention center's construction would impact the environment, identified ways to minimize the impact and followed other procedural rules such as allowing public comment, according to the environmental groups and the tribe.
It makes no difference that the detention center holding hundreds of detainees was built by the state of Florida since federal agencies have authority over immigration, the suit said.
Attorneys for federal and state agencies last week asked Williams to dismiss or transfer the injunction request, saying the lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, they said.
Williams had yet to rule on that argument.
The lawsuits were being heard as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ′ administration apparently was preparing to build a second immigration detention center at a Florida National Guard training center in north Florida. At least one contract has been awarded for what’s labeled in state records as the “North Detention Facility.”