Ron DeSantis Sued Over Alligator Alcatraz

Two environmental nonprofit groups are suing to block Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s expedited plans to open “Alligator Alcatraz,” an ICE detention center in the middle of the Florida Everglades.

A nonprofit called Friends of the Everglades, Inc. and another called the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that construction on the new facility was greenlit “without conducting any environmental reviews as required under NEPA, without public notice or comment, and without compliance with other federal statutes such as the Endangered Species Act, or state or local land-use laws.”

The groups sought to halt all activity at the site “unless and until Defendants comply with [National Environmental Protection Act] and related state, federal and local environmental laws and regulations,” which would include completing an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment, providing time for public comment.

Earlier this week, Noem announced that construction on the $450 million facility would soon begin on a defunct Miami-Dade airstrip adjacent to the Big Cypress National Preserve using funding from FEMA—which Donald Trump’s administration plans to functionally shut down after this year’s hurricane season.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave a tour of the nascent facility on Fox & Friends Friday, touting that immigrants detained there would have showers, baths, and the “ability for food.”

“They’ll have the ability to consult legal rights—if they have that,” DeSantis said.

In addition to environmental impacts, advocacy groups have warned that housing thousands of immigrants in the sweltering heat of the Everglades, surrounded by marshes and their animal inhabitants, amounted to inhumane treatment.

A spokesperson for Ron DeSantis’s office told the Associated Press that the governor looked forward to litigating the case. The lawsuit names multiple federal and state agencies as defendants, including the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

“Governor Ron DeSantis has insisted that Florida will be a force multiplier for federal immigration enforcement, and this facility is a necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a pre-existing airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment,” said spokesman Bryan Griffin in an email.