invalidated a preliminary injunction<\/a> issued by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams, who in August 2025 had ordered the facility to wind down. The case now will go back to Williams, who will decide next steps.<\/p>\nThe ruling enabled the detention facility to continue operating while environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe pursue litigation over environmental concerns at the site. The plaintiffs say the federal and state governments unlawfully rushed the facility to completion without a required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The government agencies contend the site is a state and not a federal one, and that therefore such a review is not necessary. The agencies also say the facility\u2019s impact on the environment is minimal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Everglades are responsible for the drinking water of millions of people in the state. A $27 billion restoration effort is among the most ambitious of its kind in human history.<\/p>\n
Alligator Alcatraz opened in early July 2025 as part of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. The environmental groups said they plan to continue their litigation despite the detention facility\u2019s expected closure. They said that based on published reports, the site would be shuttered just days before they are scheduled to resume their litigation in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not letting up in court,\u201d said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, one of the groups involved in the litigation. \u201cEven when it does close it will be really important to press forward to full remediation of the harm that was caused, and our legal team is in very active talks about how to ensure that outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n
Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n
Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n
Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n
Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.<\/p>\n
Thank you,<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t![\"Amy](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\")
![\"Amy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20201009_WMFE_0184-Edit-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAmy Green\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tReporter, Florida<\/p>\n
Amy Green covers the environment and climate change from Orlando, Florida. She is a mid-career journalist and author whose extensive reporting on the Everglades is featured in the book MOVING WATER, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and podcast DRAINED, available wherever you get your podcasts. Amy\u2019s work has been recognized with many awards, including a prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and Public Media Journalists Association award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida plans to shut down the Everglades migrant detention site known as Alligator Alcatraz as soon as early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3120,3879,28,30,29,1841,115919,53342,106916,4945],"class_list":["post-270146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alligator-alcatraz","tag-everglades","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-immigration","tag-indigenous-land","tag-miccosukee-tribe","tag-miccosukee-tribe-of-indians-of-florida","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270146","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=270146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Amy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20201009_WMFE_0184-Edit-300x300.jpg\"\/)