{"id":242064,"date":"2026-04-22T17:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242064\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T17:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:20:08","slug":"everglades-detention-camp-doesnt-have-to-comply-with-federal-environmental-law-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242064\/","title":{"rendered":"Everglades detention camp doesn\u2019t have to comply with federal environmental law, court rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Liv Caputo, Florida Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s migrant lockup in the Everglades doesn\u2019t have to comply with federal environmental laws because it\u2019s entirely state run and lacks federal funding, a three-judge panel has ruled in kicking the case back to a lower court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environmentalists and (the Miccosukee) Tribe must prove both that the facility was federally funded and that it was subject to federal control,\u201d Chief Judge William Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit wrote in the majority opinion handed down Tuesday, explaining<\/a> how the plaintiffs trying to shut down the facility could have moved forward with their case against the state.<\/p>\n

But \u201cthey failed to do so,\u201d partly because \u201cthe facility is not federally controlled\u201d and partly because Florida has yet to see one cent of the long-promised federal reimbursements for the South Florida detention site that the state is calling \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d the George W. Bush appointee wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil Homeland Security officials decide to fund the facility, no final agency action occurs,\u201d Pryor added.<\/p>\n

The ruling scathes a lower court for trying to shutter the tent camp and nullifies claims that officials violated the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the federal government to analyze potential environmental damage before undertaking projects.<\/p>\n

The order falls amid the winding tale of the environment and the facility.<\/p>\n

For eight months, Florida officials went unreimbursed for $608 million for the center because the federal government hadn\u2019t completed<\/a> an environmental review.<\/p>\n

Although the hold was lifted<\/a> in March \u2014 months after the facility\u2019s July opening date \u2014 Florida still can\u2019t receive the federal dollars because the agency in charge of distributing them, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is off the clock amid the two-month partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n

The case at hand was brought by the Miccosukee Tribe, Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity in June, days after the state announced plans to convert the largely abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition airport in the remote Everglades into \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environmentalists sued to shut down the facility because a federal environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act wasn\u2019t completed, and because they said keystone species could be endangered by human activity in the sensitive habitat.<\/p>\n

In August, District Judge Kathleen Williams agreed<\/a> with them. She issued a preliminary injunction ordering the site shut down.<\/p>\n

But a three-judge panel in the Eleventh Circuit \u2014 different from Tuesday\u2019s grouping \u2014 reversed course a month later, halting the lower judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s ruling vacated Williams\u2019 injunction and sent the case back to her courtroom. Pryor and Trump appointee Judge Andrew Brasher had harsh words for her, claiming she \u201cabused her discretion\u201d in trying to shut down the center.<\/p>\n

Judge Nancy Abudu, a Biden appointee, dissented. She defended Williams, arguing Pryor and Brasher were improperly accusing her of error.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not supposed to redetermine the facts for ourselves,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe majority ignores the district court\u2019s careful and extensive fact finding, attributing fault and error where there was none.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the subject matter?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo long as Florida remains a willing participant in the federal government\u2019s immigration detention scheme, it subjects itself to the federal government\u2019s substantial control over the parties\u2019 joint efforts, which is the necessary trigger for NEPA\u2019s application in this case,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com<\/a>. Banner photo: President Donald Trump and other officials tour \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d on July 1 (DHSgov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here<\/a>. To support The Invading Sea, click here<\/a> to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Liv Caputo, Florida Phoenix Florida\u2019s migrant lockup in the Everglades doesn\u2019t have to comply with federal environmental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3120,100658,33603,3890,28,6765,30,29,4137,106916,106917],"class_list":{"0":"post-242064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-alligator-alcatraz","9":"tag-environmental-review","10":"tag-federal-emergency-management-agency","11":"tag-federal-funding","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-everglades","14":"tag-florida-headlines","15":"tag-florida-news","16":"tag-lawsuits","17":"tag-miccosukee-tribe-of-indians-of-florida","18":"tag-national-environmental-policy-act"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}