Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center can stay open and is not subject to an environmental review, an appellate court has ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld on Tuesday its prior decision reversing a federal judge’s August order to phase out the facility. Alligator Alcatraz can now remain open and is not required to undergo a National Environmental Policy Act review, barring further court proceedings.
“Using state employees and state funds, Florida officials, on their own initiative, constructed a detention center at an airport on state property in the Florida Everglades,” the court opinion read.
The three plaintiffs — Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Miccosukee Tribe — argued that the facility in the natural wetland must go through a federal environmental review. The appeal centered on that review, which the three-judge panel rejected 2-1.
“Florida, not federal, officials constructed the facility,” the
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