August 22, 2025
President Donald Trump, who after visiting Alligator Alcatraz, suggested the facility could be used as a model for future lockups as his administration pushes anti-immigration narratives.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt the expansion of the controversial immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, citing concerns that its Everglades location may violate environmental laws, according to NPR.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams is giving the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Florida leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis 60 days to remove fencing, lighting and generators and said state and federal defendants are prohibited from bringing anyone other than migrants already detained onto the property.
Within the 82-page order presented Aug. 21, the preliminary injunction includes “those who are in active concert or participation with” the state of Florida or federal defendants or their officers, agents, employees, to permit the facility to go through the required environmental assessments, as there have been efforts to preserve the Everglades for years. “Since that time, every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” Judge Williams wrote.
“This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.”
Since the detention center was first announced in the second quarter of 2025, environmental groups fought against it, calling the project “inhumane” and resulting in lawsuits from Big Cypress National Preserve and Friends of the Everglades, stating it “threatens the Everglades ecosystem.” With a $450 million price tag, Native American groups also spoke out against its inception as the area is marked as a sacred ancestral homeland, located directly across from the Tamiami Trail — the home of 19 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages.
Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve Samples called the ruling a landmark victory and praised Williams for standing up for what’s right. “It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them,” Samples said in a statement.
However, hours after the judge’s ruling, DeSantis filed an appeal against the dispute that the facility, at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, poses environmental threats, according to CBS News. But Williams says the opposite, listing all of the problems the facility encompasses. “The light pollution is far worse now than before the camp’s construction. The addition of 800,000 square feet of asphalt paving (with another 1 million planned) increases harmful water runoff relative to the areas previously paved,” she wrote.
“The frenetic human activity, including vehicular traffic and wastewater from thousands of people daily, was essentially absent prior to the detention camp’s construction.”
Williams’ ruling came after issuing a temporary restraining order that blocked state and federal officials from further expansion of the facility, slated to last two weeks from Aug. 7.
That will put a hindrance on potential plans from President Donald Trump, who, after visiting Alligator Alcatraz, suggested the facility could be used as a model for future lockups as his administration pushes anti-immigration narratives.
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