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\n Nearly two months after the hasty and controversial birth of \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d a federal judge has slammed the brakes on the operation, ruling that no more detainees<\/a> can be sent to the remote migrant detention camp deep in the marshy wetlands of the Everglades.\n <\/p>\n \n Built in just a matter of days, the facility garnered sharp criticism for its treatment of migrants who have been confined in cages amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals, prompting members of Congress and state representatives that witnessed the conditions <\/a>to demand its immediate closure.\n <\/p>\n \n US District Judge Kathleen Williams on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The Miccosukee Tribe, a Native American tribe whose reservation lies within miles of the facility, raised serious concerns about the impact the facility will have on their land and the environmentally sensitive area, including the plants and animals that inhabit the Everglades.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area,\u201d Williams said in the order.\n <\/p>\n \n A preliminary injunction is a temporary order put in place until a court can make a final decision in a case. The federal and state governments are attempting to appeal the judge\u2019s order, according to court filings.\n <\/p>\n \n The state has requested the court temporarily halt enforcement of the federal judge\u2019s order while the appeal is heard, arguing \u201cthe public interest will suffer irreparable injury\u201d due to the preliminary injunction, including disruption of law enforcement response and financial losses. The state requested the judge rule on their request by Monday at 5 p.m.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe got news last night that we had a judge try to upset the apple cart with respect to our deportation and detainee processing center down in South Florida at \u2018Alligator Alcatraz.\u2019 I just wanted to say this was not something that was unexpected,\u201d Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Friday. \u201cWe knew that this would be something that will likely happen and we will respond accordingly.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be deterred,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cWe are totally in the right on this.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n DeSantis is doubling down on immigrant detention centers in his state \u2013 including the announcement of a new immigration detention facility he dubbed \u201cDeportation Depot<\/a>,\u201d which can hold as many as 2,000 detainees.\n <\/p>\n \n For now, the installation of any additional industrial style lighting is prohibited, as is any paving, filling, excavating, fencing, or erecting any additional building or tents at \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d The order also mandates no detainees beyond those currently housed at the facility can be moved there.\n <\/p>\n \n Lighting, fencing and \u201call generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project\u201d and added to Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport must also be removed within 60 days of the order, Williams said, effectively shutting the facility that\u2019s become a centerpiece of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown<\/a> \u2013 which Americans largely oppose<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAlligator Alcatraz remains operational, and we will not stop in our mission to detain, deport, and deliver for the American people,\u201d Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a social media post<\/a> Friday.\n <\/p>\n \n Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin condemned Williams\u2019 ruling as an attempt to derail the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown efforts.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cIt is another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people\u2019s mandate to remove the worst of the worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Williams was nominated by former President Barack Obama.\n <\/p>\n \n In June she found Uthmeier, who has championed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d in civil contempt of court after he appeared to publicly defy her order to pause a new state immigration law making it a crime to enter Florida illegally.\n <\/p>\n \n DeSantis also called Williams an \u201cactivist judge\u201d at his briefing Friday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is a judge that was not going to give us a fair shake. This was preordained, very much an activist judge that is trying to do policy from the bench,\u201d the governor said.\n <\/p>\n \n Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava called the ruling a victory for freedom, local communities and the environment.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMost importantly it is a victory for the families who have endured unimaginable hardship because of what happens at this facility,\u201d Cava said. \u201cThe people who have been held here, the detainees have faced conditions that have shocked our community, our nation and in fact, the world, conditions that have betrayed the very values that define America.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Around 400 people are still detained at \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d the mayor said, adding that she doesn\u2019t know the exact number since she hasn\u2019t been permitted to enter the facility.\n <\/p>\n \n The outcome of the state\u2019s appeal and whether the facility will be permanently closed remain uncertain.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe can\u2019t predict exactly what will happen. They have appealed other rulings by Judge Williams that have not been sustained,\u201d Cava said. \u201cIn this case, it\u2019s on environmental basis and hopefully, higher courts will sustain her ruling.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Legal expert Michael Romano, director of the Three Strikes Project at Stanford Law School, says what happens next hinges on the outcome of the appeal.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cA preliminary injunction is just that \u2013 it\u2019s preliminary. They usually stand up, but let\u2019s say the appeal fails,\u201d Romano told CNN. \u201cIt\u2019s not the end of the story. They would then go for what\u2019s called a permanent injunction, and they\u2019ll appeal that. So it\u2019s going to drag on for a while.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It remains to be seen whether the DeSantis administration will fall in line with the injunction\u2019s demands, including halting new detainee arrivals and tearing down the mandated infrastructure as ordered by Williams, or if they\u2019ll resist.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf you defy a court order, you can be held in contempt, and I think there have been a number of circumstances within the new (Trump) administration where they have tested the court\u2019s willingness to impose a contempt order,\u201d Romano said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe administration definitely tests limits, but they don\u2019t always go over them,\u201d he added. \u201cI think it\u2019s safe to predict that they will test the limits of this court if they can\u2019t get the decision reversed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Members of Congress and state representatives who were given a limited tour last month to inspect conditions described the facility <\/a>as \u201cinhumane,\u201d with detainees \u201cpacked into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,\u201d Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida\u2019s 25th Congressional District, said at the time.\n <\/p>\n \n Each cage contained three small toilets with attached sinks, which detainees use for drinking water and brushing their teeth.\n <\/p>\n \n Lawmakers were concerned about reports of unhygienic conditions due to toilets not working and \u201cfeces being spread everywhere,\u201d but were denied access from viewing units where migrants are currently detained and were not permitted to view the medical facilities, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who was also on the tour, said.\n <\/p>\n \n Despite criticism and reports of harsh conditions, \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d is serving as a model for other states to establish similar facilities, including the \u201cDeportation Depot\u201d in northern Florida, as well as additional immigration detention centers in Indiana and Nebraska.\n <\/p>\n \n DeSantis\u2019 \u201cDeportation Depot\u201d will be located within the Baker Correctional Institution, a temporarily<\/a> closed state prison about 45 miles west of Jacksonville near the Osceola National Forest.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe reason of this is not to just house people indefinitely. We want to process, stage and then return illegal aliens to their home country,\u201d DeSantis said last week.\n <\/p>\n \n The facility will likely be ready soon, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said.\n <\/p>\n \n In Bunker Hill, Indiana, the Miami Correctional Facility is offering 1,000 unused beds to ICE for detaining migrants. The Department of Homeland Security has nicknamed the facility the \u201cSpeedway Slammer,\u201d according to a DHS news release<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n In Nebraska, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen announced on August 19 that ICE is establishing a detention center in McCook, a city with a population of around 7,000. The Department of Homeland Security has dubbed the facility the \u201cCornhusker Clink<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n Ruling points to environmental concerns and impact on Indigenous lands<\/p>\n \n Cava said it was \u201cpainful\u201d to watch state leaders dismiss the community\u2019s concerns and the potential environmental impact on both the land and the people living nearby, \u201cparticularly the tribe whose sacred lands are being violated.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The migrant detention center is surrounded by Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and the tribal lands of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, a plaintiff in the case.\n <\/p>\n \n Everglades National Park is an environmentally critical subtropical wetland, home to threatened species and one of the world\u2019s largest mangrove ecosystems. It also provides essential services to South Florida, including drinking water for more than 8 million Floridians and protection from hurricanes and floods, according to the National Wildlife Federation.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEvery Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,\u201d Williams said in the order. \u201cThis Order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Work](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ap25234061358270.jpg\")
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