U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams presided over the hearing, which will reconvene Thursday morning.
Eve Samples, the executive director of Friends of the Everglades, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the Everglades and one of the parties who filed the lawsuit, said more than 40,000 people made submissions on its website to oppose the detention center.
“We are very concerned about potential impacts of runoff,” as well as “large, new industrial-style lights that are visible from 15 miles away, even though having a dark sky designation,” Samples told the court.
“Driving out there myself many times, the increased traffic is visible. I saw two dead gators last time I visited, so definitely a difference in the area,” she added.
Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, previously said in response to the litigation that the facility was a “necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a pre-existing airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment.”
Jessica Namath, daughter of former NFL star Joe Namath — who was in attendance — testified at Wednesday’s hearing that she and her children have gone to the jet strip for recreation. Namath, also a member of Friends of the Everglades, said that the detention facility has created light pollution and that the area looks “heartbreakingly different.”
It “looks like we have a sports stadium in our backyard now,” Namath said.
She noted the increased vehicle traffic, saying vehicles often travel “dangerously fast” and have made the area more unsafe.
Environmental concerns aside, “Alligator Alcatraz” has been making headlines for an array of other alleged violations.
Detainees have allegedly been barred from meeting with their attorneys and are being held without charges, according to civil rights lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against the facility.
The center has also raised human rights concerns, with conditions described as horrific, including cage-like units full of mosquitoes, unsanitary conditions and a lack of food and reliable medical treatment, according to legal advocates and relatives of immigrant detainees.
NBC Miami has also reported on detainees’ and family members’ allegations of “inhumane conditions“: limited access to showers, spoiled food, extreme heat and mosquito infestations.
“They have no sunlight. There’s no clock in there. They don’t even know what time of the day it is. They have no access to showers. They shower every other day or every four days,” said a former corrections officer identified in the NBC Miami report as Lindsey.
At the hearing, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Fla., testified that when she went to the facility in July with the state Division of Emergency Management and other state government officials, she was told there were no power lines or running water.
“We were not allowed to speak to any of the detainees, but we were allowed to gaze into one of the occupied cages,” Eskamani said.
The state has previously denied the claims.
In an exchange during cross-examination Wednesday, lawyers for the defense questioned plaintiffs’ true motives for the suit, implying they were less concerned about the facility’s environmental impacts and instead driven by its housing of immigrants.
Jesse Michael Panuccio, one of the defense attorneys, asked Samples, the Friends of the Everglades executive director, whether she ever protested the airstrip before it became an immigration facility.
“We did not have a level of concern that would need protesting,” Samples responded, noting the number of people being brought in and the amount of waste.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has rejected all allegations of inhumane conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz” and at immigration detention centers across the country.
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority,” McLaughlin said in a statement last month.
Marlene Lenthang reported from Los Angeles and Juliette Arcodia from Miami.