Immigration Detention

A federal appeals court panel has put on hold a lower court judge's order to wind down operations of the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." The three-judge panel in Atlanta on Thursday decided by a 2-1 vote to stay the federal judge's order pending the outcome of an appeal. The judges in the majority said it was in the public interest. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction last month ordering operations at the facility to be wound down by the end of October, with detainees transferred to other facilities and equipment and fencing removed.

A former detainee at Alligator Alcatraz describes conditions and the circumstances of his apprehension by a border patrol agent.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams has refused to pause her order requiring state and federal officials to wind down operations at an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Williams issued a preliminary injunction last week in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, finding state and federal officials failed to comply with a federal law requiring an environmental impact study be conducted before the remote facility was constructed.

Prayer vigil set for Aug. 31 outside immigrant detention camp in the Everglades

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.

Plaintiffs react following judges order to dismantle Alligator Alcatraz over the next 60 days