Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The Fallout from the immigration raids conducted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement are beginning to take a toll on small businesses.

Some Bonita Springs businesses say customers aren’t coming in like they used to. A new survey digs into why.

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.

A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and the federal government fight a judge's order to shutter the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by late October. That's according to an email exchange shared with The Associated Press.

Amid a flurry of legal fights, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to put on hold a judge’s ruling that required winding down operations of the Everglades immigrant-detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”Attorneys for the state filed a 52-page motion at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a stay of a preliminary injunction issued last week by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and joined by the Miccosukee Tribe.

The federal government has asked a Miami judge to pause her order to close an immigration detention center in Florida's Everglades, known as "Alligator Alcatraz." Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security say the closure would disrupt immigration law enforcement. They requested a decision by Monday. The federal agency says the facility, which opened in July, is needed due to overcrowded detention centers in Florida. Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe oppose the request, arguing the project threatens sensitive wetlands. Civil rights groups on Friday filed a third lawsuit over practices at the facility, saying Florida has no authority to operate it.

Calling it "exactly the kind of disaster that Congress took pains to avoid," attorneys for immigrants held at a detention center in the Everglades filed a lawsuit alleging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration lacks the authority to run the facility.The lawsuit, filed Friday in the federal court’s Middle District of Florida, is the third major legal challenge to the detention center, erected by the DeSantis’ administration as part of the state’s support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

A federal judge has halted further expansion of the immigration detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades. The judge on Thursday also ordered the facility to wind down operations within two months. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams stated that Florida officials never adequately explained the need for the facility in the middle of the sensitive wetlands. She also noted that state and federal defendants failed to conduct an environmental review before building the detention center. Federal and Florida officials had hailed the facility as a model for President Donald Trump's immigration policies.