A federal appeals court has blocked a lower court’s order to shutter the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center over environmental concerns, in a win for the Trump administration and Florida officials.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 on Thursday in favor of halting a preliminary injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams last month, which had ordered the facility housing illegal immigrants to be closed within 60 days. Judge Barbara Lagoa, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote for the majority that the facts of the case warrant pausing Williams’s order, finding that the state and federal governments would be irreparably harmed by having to shutter the facility in the interim.
Lagoa also questioned Williams’s rationale for granting such significant relief in favor of the environmental groups suing over Alligator Alcatraz’s operations.
“It is entirely unclear to us, moreover, how the district court concluded that it could order the proactive dismantling of the Facility by way of a mandatory preliminary injunction,” Lagoa wrote for her and Judge Elizabeth Branch, also a Trump appointee.
“If there were a substantial likelihood that the Plaintiffs would succeed on their NEPA claim (and as we’ve already explained, there isn’t), the appropriate remedy at this stage might, at most, have been to enjoin the further use of or construction at the Facility pending completion of an EIS, not the affirmative expenditure of public monies to take it apart,” Lagoa added, referring to the environmental groups’ arguments that the detention center should be shut down because the federal government has not yet conducted an environmental impact study.
The lone dissent on the panel came from Judge Adalberto Jordan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, who argued the request by the Trump administration to pause the lower court’s order should have been a “relatively simple denial.”
The lawsuit stems from environmental groups, led by Friends of the Everglades, arguing that Florida and the federal government built and operated “Alligator Alcatraz” without required environmental reviews and expressing concern that the facility could harm the surrounding ecosystem.
Alligator Alcatraz was built on the site of an airstrip in the Florida Everglades and was the first in a growing list of immigration detention facilities with catchy names. Subsequent facilities have included the Cornhusker Clink in Nebraska, the Louisiana Lockup, and Speedway Slammer in Indiana.
The Department of Homeland Security called Thursday’s ruling a “huge victory,” claiming the lawsuit was always about “activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities.”
“Today’s order is a win for the American people, the rule of law, and common sense. This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility. It has and will always be about open-borders activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities, full stop,” DHS posted on X.
“Alligator Alcatraz is, in fact, like we’ve always said, open for business, the mission continues, and we’re gonna continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said shortly after the 11th Circuit’s ruling.
The now-halted ruling last month, which ordered operations at Alligator Alcatraz to end within 60 days, led to the facility reportedly getting close to empty within less than a week. Under Thursday’s order, operations will be permitted to ramp back up in the interim.
EMAIL REVEALS ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ MIGRANT DETENTION FACILITY LIKELY TO BE EMPTY WITHIN DAYS
Friends of the Everglades executive director Eve Samples said in a statement following the 11th Circuit’s ruling that “the case is far from over” and said the group is “committed to fighting on.”
“The court entered a limited stay order. While disappointing, we never expected ultimate success to be easy. We’re hopeful the preliminary injunction will be affirmed when it’s reviewed on its merits during the appeal,” Samples said. “In the meantime, if the DeSantis and Trump administrations choose to ramp operations back up at the detention center, they will just be throwing good money after bad because this ill-considered facility, which is causing harm to the Everglades, will ultimately be shut down.”
