Complying with Judge’s Order to Dismantle It, ICE Stops Sending Human Beings to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Federal officials are complying with a judge’s order and have stopped sending immigrants to a detention center in the Everglades, less than two months after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration launched the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams last week issued a preliminary injunction ordering state and federal officials to begin winding down operations at the detention center, which the Florida Division of Emergency Management spent about $218 million to construct, according to court documents.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official confirmed in an email Friday that the agency is “complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities.” The email defended the mass deportation program as well as the Everglades facility, which is at an airport used for flight training.

“We are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. This activist judge’s order is yet another attempt to prevent the president from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst — including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country. Not to mention this ruling ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade,” the email said.

The first immigrants were sent to the facility, which had a capacity for 2,000 detainees, in early July, and about 1,000 people were housed there in mid-August. The population at the detention center dwindled to about 330 last week, court records showed.

A lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity accused the Trump and DeSantis administrations of failing to comply with a federal law requiring an environmental-impact study before the facility could be built. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida also joined the plaintiffs in the case.

Williams’ Aug. 21 ruling ordered the Trump and DeSantis administrations to stop bringing additional detainees to the complex and gave officials 60 days to wind down operations and remove temporary fencing, lighting fixtures and generators, gas, sewage and other waste receptacles.

Both administrations quickly asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put the preliminary injunction on hold while appeals play out. Williams this week refused to block her order but the appeals at the Atlanta-based court remain pending.

Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve Samples said it was a “relief to see the state and federal government complying” with Williams’ preliminary injunction.

“When the last detainee leaves, the state should turn off the lights and shut the door behind them. The court’s ruling is a powerful reminder that people at the highest levels of government must comply with the law — in this case environmental law — and there are consequences when they don’t,” Samples said in an email.

Dismantling the lights, temporary fencing and other equipment could cost the state between $15 million and $20 million, according to State Emergency Response Team Chief Ian Gadea-Guidicelli, who oversees day-to-day operations at the facility.

The state would have to spend another $15 million to $20 million to reinstall the structures if the detention center is allowed to reopen, Gadea-Guidicelli said in a declaration filed Saturday in the lawsuit.

Williams’ preliminary injunction did not require the state to permanently shutter the facility, but her order “will eventually cause all detention operations at the site to cease,” the emergency-response chief added.

“In that event, FDEM (the Florida Division of Emergency Management) will lose most of the value of the $218 million it invested to make (the Collier-Dade Training and Transition Airport) suitable for detention operations,” the declaration said.

Florida is in line to receive $605 million for immigration detention from the Trump administration.The state could receive a partial reimbursement for the Everglades complex, which was projected to cost $450 million a year to operate, according to court documents.

The DeSantis administration is in the process of launching a second immigrant-detention facility at a mothballed state prison. The governor recently announced plans to convert Baker Correctional Institution in North Florida into a detention center that can house up to 1,600 detainees. The facility could come online as early as next week.

The Everglades facility has sparked at least two other lawsuits and has been a flashpoint in the debate about DeSantis’ and Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration enforcement.

In one challenge, immigration lawyers allege that detainees were unable to access legal representation or have private meetings with their attorneys. State officials attributed the problems to the hurried pace with which the facility was erected.

In a separate case, attorneys representing detainees argued the DeSantis administration lacks the authority to operate the site.

Both lawsuits also include allegations of inadequate water and medical care at the site.

Attorney General James Uthmeier, a former chief of staff for DeSantis whom the governor appointed as attorney general in February, was instrumental in selecting the Everglades site to temporarily house immigrants who have been arrested. The use of the airport, which can accommodate large planes, to deport people was a key factor.

During an episode of The News Service of Florida’s “Deeper Dive with Dara Kam” podcast that will be released Sunday, Uthmeier said he “felt good” about the state’s appeal of Williams’ decision.

If the courts don’t agree, Uthmeier said, the state could turn to other sites, such as the Baker County facility and a potential South Florida detention center outside Homestead.

Uthmeier credited the launch of the Everglades facility for a “huge uptick” in the number of undocumented immigrants who have signed up for a Trump administration program that steers $1,000 to people who register for voluntary self-deportation. The attorney general said about 2 million people have taken advantage of the program.

“It was a way to get attention where people that are here illegally would see, ‘I’ve got options. I may end up at a facility like that if I stay. But the federal government has advertised very clearly that I can get $1,000 and they’ll provide the transportation to get me back home,’” Uthmeier said.

–Dara Kam, News Service of Florida