Federal judge orders Florida to wind down Alligator Alcatraz

A federal judge has ordered Florida to begin winding down operations at the controversial state run immigration detention center in the Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz, and a top state official said the facility could be empty of detainees within days. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Aug. 21 issued a preliminary injunction barring the state and federal defendants from bringing new detainees to the site and directing that much of the temporary infrastructure be removed within 60 days, a timetable that would carry the facility toward closure by late October.

The ruling followed a lawsuit from environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe that argued state and federal officials failed to conduct required federal environmental review before converting a remote training airport into the sprawling detention complex. In her order Williams wrote the project "creates irreparable harm" to sensitive wetlands and endangered species and found plaintiffs had shown the rushed construction appeared to violate the National Environmental Policy Act. The judge denied a request by the Department of Homeland Security to pause her order while the government appeals.