Alligator Alcatraz

As the federal government intensifies its immigration crackdown, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has emerged as one of the Suncoast’s most active partners with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In recent months, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman’s deputies have patrolled the Everglades immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and shuttled immigrants between detention facilities in Florida, earning more than $280,000 in state funding for the work. Meanwhile, the number of ICE detainers — which keep people up to 48 hours past their release date for possible detention and deportation — have quadrupled this past year inside the already crowded county jail.

“Hands Across The Land” is being billed as a peaceful gathering outside the Everglades detention center on Tamiami Trail/U.S. 41 in eastern Collier County and planned this Sunday.

A federal lawsuit over an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, known as "Alligator Alcatraz," has been paused by an appellate court because of the government shutdown. Earlier this month, U.S. government attorneys requested a stay in proceedings because funding for the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security had expired. The appellate court granted the request on Wednesday. Environmental groups, including Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, had sued over environmental concerns. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams previously ordered the facility to wind down operations, but that injunction was put on hold by an appellate court panel.

Florida officials have been accused of failing to disclose their application for federal reimbursement for an immigration detention center in the Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz." A public records lawsuit filed Monday by Friends of the Everglades says this led to a false impression before an appellate court panel, which put on hold a judge's order to wind down operations at the facility. Florida applied for federal funding in August but didn't inform either a federal district court or an appellate court panel. Federal officials confirmed that a $608 million reimbursement had been approved for the center earlier this month.

U.S. government lawyers say detainees at the Florida Everglades immigration detention center, known as "Alligator Alcatraz," likely include people who have never been in removal proceedings. This contradicts Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's claims since the facility opened in July. The U.S. Department of Justice made this admission Thursday in a court filing. They argue that detainees don't have enough in common to be certified as a class in a lawsuit over access to attorneys. Civil rights groups allege detainees have been denied proper access to legal counsel, violating their constitutional rights. DeSantis's office hasn't responded to requests for comment.

A federal official confirmed Thursday that Florida received FEMA reimbursement for the Everglades detention center. The funds -- $608 million, all the funds the state requested — were received Tuesday, the day before the government shutdown.Elise Bennett, Florida director and a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the information confirms the group’s contentions and backs up a lawsuit the group filed.

Detainees arriving at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades are given color-coded uniforms and segregated based on criminal history and flight risk. That is according to a handbook made public as part of a lawsuit over attorney access at the site known as "Alligator Alcatraz." Civil rights and environmental groups have filed three lawsuits over conditions. In one lawsuit, civil rights groups argued the facility operates outside federal law. They asked a federal judge in Fort Myers this week to stop the facility from holding detainees. A different federal judge ordered it closed in August for environmental reasons, but it remains open pending appeals.

Over the last five months, Florida law enforcement officials have arrested more than 6,000 people suspected of being in the country illegally, a U.S. Border Patrol official announced Friday. The announcement comes as the state continues its aggressive approach to help carry out President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. Florida's total is in comparison to the more than 5,000 arrests carried out over a three-month period in the Los Angeles area, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

After forced settlement in the region, The Miccosukee were recognized as a sovereign nation by The United States in 1962 and since, generations developed a deep connection with the land.

Some of the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic bishops and nuns on the front lines of America's immigration conflict gathered in Washington to decry the Trump administration's hard-line policies. The religious leaders condemned Trump's immigration crackdown, saying its tearing apart families, inciting fear and upending American church life. They shared how they've supported immigrants who are wary of taking their children to school, and going to work or church for fear of being detained and deported. A Trump administration move gives immigration officers more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship. It has been challenged in court by faith groups representing millions of Americans.