A Leon County circuit judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by five Democratic lawmakers who sought access to the immigrant-detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” saying laws about access to state prisons and local jails do not apply to the Everglades facility.
Judge Jonathan Sjostrom on Friday sided with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in the lawsuit filed after lawmakers made an unannounced visit to the detention center in July but were denied access. The Democrats contended in the lawsuit the denial violated laws allowing access by legislators to correctional institutions.
Sjostrom, in a five-page ruling, wrote that the laws allow access to facilities such as state prisons and county jails — but not to the immigrant detention center run by the state.
“The (immigrant detention) facility does not meet the statutory definition of a state correctional institution because no prisoner is housed in the facility under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Corrections,” Sjostrom wrote. “Likewise, the facility does not meet the statutory definition of a county or municipal detention facility because there is no allegation that the (immigrant detention) facility is operated by any county or municipal government or related entity.”
The state drew national attention when it opened the facility last year at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport as DeSantis and other Florida Republican leaders sought to assist President Donald Trump’s mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. The facility, which is surrounded by the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve, also has led to separate legal battles in federal court. The airport had long been used for flight training.
Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, and Rep. Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, went to the center on July 3 “to inspect the state detention facility, evaluate the use of taxpayer funds and assess safety pursuant to Florida statutory guidelines,” the lawsuit said.
“The petitioners (the lawmakers) attempted to arrive unannounced so that they could observe the unadulterated conditions of the facility,” the lawsuit said. “The unannounced inspection of the facility falls squarely within the petitioners’ purview and oversight duties as state officers and members of the Florida Legislature.”
After they were turned away, the lawmakers filed the case at the Florida Supreme Court on July 10 seeking what is known as a “writ of quo warranto” directing DeSantis and state Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie to allow lawmakers unannounced access to the facility. The Supreme Court, without offering an opinion about the lawmakers’ arguments, sent the case to circuit court.
Amid the controversy, state lawmakers and members of Congress were allowed to visit the facility, though Democrats said the visit was tightly controlled and left unanswered questions.
In a November response to the lawsuit, attorneys for DeSantis and Guthrie wrote that the laws cited by the Democrats “do not entitle them as individual legislators to enter Alligator Alcatraz at their pleasure.”
“The facility is not a ‘state correctional institution’ because it is not a ‘prison’ or ‘other correctional facility,’” the response said, partially quoting one law. “‘Prisons’ and ‘correctional facilities’ describe facilities that are part of the criminal justice system. … Instead, Alligator Alcatraz is a short-term civil detention facility in which illegal aliens are held under the authority of the federal government and processed for deportation.”
In addition to citing the laws about legislators having access to correctional facilities, the lawsuit also raised constitutional separation-of-powers arguments.
“The denial of the petitioners’ access to the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention facility was an unconstitutional executive overreach because it prevented the duly elected members of the Florida Legislature from exercising their powers,” the lawsuit said. “The petitioners’ denial of entry and access restricted the Legislature’s independence as a co-equal branch of government.”
But in the November response, the DeSantis administration attorneys said the state Constitution gives the Legislature oversight authority and a law authorizes legislative committees to carry out investigations. But the administration attorneys said individual lawmakers don’t have such powers.
“Far from the governor or FDEM (the Division of Emergency Management) usurping the authority of another branch of government, it is petitioners who attempt to usurp the authority of the Legislature and its committees by taking matters into their own hands,” the response said.
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
just a question says
so- no checks or balances or holding those in charge accountable?
Let go China says
It’s Murikkka now! RCONS have frauded billions in 2025 alone. Get ready war is coming. Trumpstein files still blacked out.
Sherry says
Ahhhh The Republican judge found a loophole so that Florida can set up detention centers that are lawless to the point that they essentially have no “oversight” at all. . . Fascism at Its Best!
Skibum says
Why bother fighting these ridiculous fights in the first place? Haven’t we already seen the dire conditions inside enough of these “detention facilities”? Don’t we already understand that neither the current federal idiots or this state’s idiots in charge of these things have any intention to maintain humane, comfortable conditions for immigration detainees simply because they want the process and the facilities to hopefully BE the desired deterrent that keeps immigrants from ever wanting to step foot in the U.S. again?
I doubt that state legislators or members of Congress need to see inside more detention facilities to come to the same conclusion that we all know to be true, so why keep fighting this and getting the same refusals, the same “NO” responses???
Deborah Coffey says
Because if we all stay quiet and do nothing, they win and get much worse?
Skibum says
I understand your point but these “detention centers” are basically just holding people inside cages. They are not, nor were ever designed to be proper facilities for incarcerating people. They were thrown together haphazardly, they have had numerous, documented issues with a lack of proper plumbing and toilets for the amount of detainees, no recreation, not allowing phone calls or attorney visits, etc. etc. I’m not sure how much worse they could be unless the hitleresque feds or the mini-maga govie got some bright idea to put up stockades to chain human bodies to outside in the FL heat, leaving them for alligator bait.
FedUp says
Nice try DemocRATS. Pathetic people.
Laurel says
That really helps.
Sherry says
At Laurel. . . hate filled “name calling” . . . the last resort for those with absolutely nothing intelligent or factual to say!
Laurel says
But Alcatraz is (was) a prison. DeSantis named the Everglades property a prison. What did he mean by that? Doesn’t the judge know?
Kristian Karoline Levette said that President Trump is the most transparent President ever. Was she lying? Was she clinging to her doorknocker cross when she exclaimed that?
If Republican politicians are so transparent, why do they keep hiding things, like this, like 40 some boxes of top secret government files at a private club and the Epstein files? Why do they name “Alligator Alcatraz” after a prison, then claim it’s not a prison? What is the intent?
This behavior is shameless and disgusting. Looking for loopholes in humanity. Was this on your mind when you voted?
Dennis C Rathsam says
Allegator Alcatraz, s a great place to hold MR & Mrs MADURO…Give them a taste of thier own medicine! Without Venezulan oil, CUBA is Destin to fall too! We need no communists OPRATIVES in S America! BIDEN & OBAMA turned the other cheek, as killings & mayhem ravaged the people of Venezula. TRUMP turns no cheek, TRUMP delievered. The best is yet to come!
Deborah Coffey says
Do you break the law daily? Because, if you do, you’re going to prison…unlike Trump. If you don’t, then don’t condone it for DJT.
What Else Is New says
Bless his heart. DeSantis has proven to be so scandalous, one wonders which prison in which he will reside for a few years. Perhaps he’ll room with DJT. Lord have mercy, we are living in a country worse than 1984. De had lots to hide in his concentration camp, thus he refused to allow visits from those who opposed the facility. It seems the GOP has fallen into a system with no human empathy. Hannah Arendt opined, “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarianism.”
Tis the treason says
That will be the republican retirement home once they are removed.