Florida Outright Refuses to Shut Down “Alligator Alcatraz”

Florida apparently has no intention of shutting down Alligator Alcatraz.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier revealed Monday that the state is planning to keep the ICE facility up and running, despite a court order demanding that it shut down within the next two months.

“We’re going to continue operating the facility,” Uthmeier told news outlet WINK over the phone, referring to the state-operated 3,000-person migrant detention center erected in a swamp and flood zone. “We believe that it’s a fully lawful facility. This is an effort by environmentalists, by the left, by Democrats and by honestly this judge, to stall our immigration enforcement efforts.”

“They do not like the deportations,” Uthmeier said, noting that he had filed a notice to appeal the court ruling.

Climate activists and the Miccosukee Tribe sued the government on the grounds that the immigration agency had violated a federal law by erecting the migrant detention center without conducting an adequate assessment of its potential impact on the Florida Everglades.

That proved to be a winning strategy last week, when U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave the government 60 days to dismantle the hastily constructed concentration camp, ordering the removal of the site’s lighting, fencing, and generators. Williams also ordered the facility to halt ongoing construction and to accept no new detainees.

The project, which has been described as having horrific living conditions by detainees and former employees alike, is projected to cost American taxpayers $450 million per year in operating fees. Florida’s state government is expected to front the costs, filing reimbursement claims through the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, which the Trump administration has spent months trying to dismantle.