Florida’s controversial immigration detention center, known as "Alligator Alcatraz" could shut down as early as next month.
The New York Times and CBS News are both reporting that vendors were supposedly told on Tuesday, May 12, that the facility is closing.
Tuesday’s report comes as Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity are poised to return to court in early June when the court of appeals will return jurisdiction to the trial judge who temporarily paused operations last year.
“We won't let up until Alligator Alcatraz is shut down and its harm to the Everglades is completely remediated,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “This political stunt was a failure by every measure — our government failed the Everglades and failed taxpayers, and history will remember.”
The Center for Biological Diversity said the announced deadline to close the site by early June falls just days before the conservation groups and the Miccosukee Tribe can resume their lawsuit against the Trump administration in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida which had been stalled by the court of appeals.
In addition to violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act and state laws, the plaintiffs also notified the defendants of their intent to challenge violations of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Park Service Organic Act.
“While it is welcome news that people will no longer be inhumanely confined at this facility, the damage caused by this reckless and ill-conceived endeavor cannot simply be abandoned and forgotten,” said Paul J. Schwiep of Coffey Burlington and counsel for Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The state runs the center built in the Everglades in eastern Collier County. It has been the subject of numerous lawsuits over its environmental impact and treatment of detainees.
News reports also say that it costs the state more than $1 million dollars per day to run.
The DeSantis Administration has not publicly commented.
Jake Shore, a reporter for WLRN Public Media in Dade County, contributed to this report.
