Governor Ron DeSantis and DHS just got a major victory late last night, with an Appeals Court saying Alligator Alcatraz could remain open after a lower court closed it on some environmental basis.
The Appeals Court ruled that, because the immigration detention facility was created and is run by the state, it is not subject to federal environmental law.
Here’s more from Fox News:
“Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, can remain open, an appeals court ruled on Tuesday, upholding its earlier decision to block a judge’s order for the facility to wind down operations for failing to comply with federal environmental law.In a 2-1 decision, the majority on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found the state-run facility was not under federal control and was not subject to federal law requiring an environmental impact review.
“Florida, not federal, officials constructed the facility,” the majority wrote. “They control the land and ‘entirely’ built the facility at state expense.”
The legal dispute centers in part on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a federal law that requires agencies to assess environmental impacts before major actions.
The court wrote that Florida had received no federal reimbursement when U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ preliminary injunction ordering a gradual winding down of operations was issued last year. Williams had found that a federal reimbursement plan had effectively already been made.
The appeals court paused Williams’ order just days after it was handed down in August, pending a hearing, which was held earlier this month.
The facility is located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport site, an area surrounded by protected wetlands within the Everglades ecosystem, according to court filings.
Officials in the Sunshine State also built a second immigration detention center in northern Florida.
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