Undocumented Immigrants

Environmental groups have asked a federal appellate court panel to lift its temporary halt on closing an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades. Known as "Alligator Alcatraz," the center remains open due to arguments by Florida and the Trump administration. They claimed the state hadn't gotten federal reimbursement, so it wasn't required to follow federal environmental law. On Tuesday, during a hearing in Miami, the judges questioned how much control the federal government had over the state-built facility. Florida was notified in late September of $608 million in federal funding approval. The environmental lawsuit was one of three federal challenges to the facility since it opened.

A seven-month-old Bonita Springs organization is helping families navigate life after a loved one is deported.

Seven years ago, during the first administration of President Donald Trump, children were taken from their families the moment they crossed the border into the United States. Under a policy of zero tolerance for illegal crossing, Customs and Border Protection officers detained adults while children were sent into the federal shelter system. The aim: to deter other families from following. But after widespread public outcry and a lawsuit, the administration ended it. Today, family separations are back, only now they are happening all across the country.

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

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the Trump administration will soon expand immigration operations in Chicago. Noem confirmed plans for the stepped up presence of federal agents in the nation's third-largest city in a CBS News' "Face the Nation" interview on Sunday. DHS last week requested the Naval Station Great Lakes, about 35 miles north of Chicago, provide DHS limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs for the agency's operations. Pritzker says that the plan to mobilize federal forces in the city may be part of an effort by President Donald Trump to "stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections."

Federal officials are complying with a judge’s order and have stopped sending immigrants to a detention center in the Everglades, less than two months after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration launched the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

A line of merchandise sold by the Florida Republican Party with branding for the state's newest immigration deportation facility — Deportation Depot — has been removed from the party's website.Shortly after the new facility was announced, the merchandise was listed for sale at the state GOP's website.

A federal judge has denied the Trump administration's request to end a policy protecting immigrant children in federal custody. The Flores agreement limits how long children can be held and requires safe conditions. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California says it was a repetitive attempt and she saw no reason to terminate it. President Donald Trump's administration says the Flores Settlement Agreement hinders its immigration crackdown. In a hearing held last week, Gee questioned why a number of children are held longer than the 72-hour limit when border arrests are low. A government attorney cited logistical challenges and policy changes.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state's holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be built at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles west of Jacksonville, and is expected to house 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.