American Alligator swimming in the Everglades, home of Alligator Alcatraz – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Mark_Kostich
On Monday, Florida’s top emergency official petitioned a federal judge to deny environmentalists’ request to close “Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigration detention facility located in the middle of the Florida Everglades, on the grounds that their complaint was filed in the incorrect jurisdiction.
The detention facility is situated in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, thus even though Miami-Dade County owns the property, the complaint should be filed in Florida’s southern court. According to a court filing by Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, decisions regarding the facility were also made in Tallahassee and Washington.
Additionally, Guthrie stated that all of the buildings, paving, and detention facilities in question are located in Collier County rather than Miami-Dade.
During a virtual court session on Monday, environmental groups’ lawyer Paul Schwiep retorted that the southern district was the appropriate location because “a substantial portion of the events” were held in Miami-Dade County.
Since U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, the newly appointed judge overseeing the case, had recently found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt for disobeying her orders in another case, Schwiep later described the state’s concerns about the jurisdiction as “an obvious attempt at judge-shopping” in a statement.
“Until this case was reassigned to Judge Williams, the state had no objection to venue in the Southern District of Florida,” Schwiep stated. “The detention center site was taken from Miami-Dade County by the state of Florida, the case was properly filed in Miami-Dade County, the site is partially within Miami-Dade County, and the county is a defendant.”
Last month, environmental organizations sued federal and state officials in Florida’s southern district, requesting that the project being constructed on an airport in the center of the Florida Everglades be put on hold because the procedure violated both federal and state environmental regulations.
To determine whether the complaint was filed in the appropriate court, Williams set a hearing on July 30. At the hearing on Monday, she also announced that she would postpone making a decision on the environmental groups’ request for a temporary injunction and restraining order to halt the project until an Aug. 6 hearing in Miami.
Schwiep estimated during Monday’s court that 900 people had been transported to “Alligator Alcatraz” in the last three weeks, and the case was filed prior to the facility being opened to detainees. According to Schwiep, the environmental groups’ objective was to stop more building and the transfer of more people to the facility because of that pace.
While Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended the facility as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, critics have denounced it as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands.
As the agency seeks to greatly increase its capacity for immigration detention, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has commended Florida for putting forward the proposal.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.