After a year of aggressive litigation from Earthjustice and its partners, “Alligator Alcatraz” no longer holds detainees. The mass immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades shut down detention operations on Thursday, June 25. Earthjustice sued the Trump administration and state of Florida last June after they partnered to hastily build the detention center without undertaking legally required environmental reviews. Both the administration and Florida were operating the cruel facility unlawfully, endangering the surrounding ecosystem and nearby communities. This wasn’t the only legal fight over this detention center: Earthjustice sued again in October because Florida illegally withheld public records about the federal government’s funding of the detention center. President Donald Trump participates in a walking tour of the Everglades immigration detention center on Jul. 1, 2025. (Daniel Torok / White House) The end of Alligator Alcatraz’s detention operations is a critical win against the administration’s disregard for the law in its push to round up and detain immigrants nationwide. The effort has cost taxpayers billions, with the administration buying warehouses and rushing to convert them to detention centers. Often, they’re skirting bedrock environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the process. This is how Earthjustice and other environmental groups are fighting back against these facilities, and their efforts are making a difference. Alligator Alcatraz was intended to hold thousands of detainees in the heart of Big Cypress National Preserve, a federally protected, ecological refuge in the Everglades. These intense operations threatened iconic wetlands and species — including the endangered Florida panther and bonneted bat. Earthjustice and private attorneys represented Friends of the Everglades and partnered with the Center for Biological Diversity in the environmental challenge. The Miccosukee Tribe also joined the case. The critically endangered Florida panther is just one of the species that depends on the Everglades. (David Shindle for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) In addition to finding a lack of environmental review in violation of NEPA, Earthjustice’s litigation exposed information the government tried to keep from the public. In court, the state and federal agencies claimed that federal funding was not for certain, and that an application had not even been submitted, so therefore there was no need to respect federal environmental laws. Yet records obtained through Earthjustice’s public records lawsuit confirmed that the Trump administration committed to federally fund the detention center from the very beginning, to the tune of $608 million in federal money. On Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that all those detained at the Florida Everglades center have been taken to other facilities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said people were moved for hurricane season, even though the facility was built and detained thousands of people during last year’s hurricane season. It remains unclear when or whether they’ll return. Regardless, the facility continues to threaten the Everglades with some 20 acres of new pavement, hazardous waste, diesel generators, heavy equipment, and glaring lights that harm wildlife, while also threatening nearby Miccosukee tribal villages. Managing Attorney for Earthjustice’s Florida Regional Office, Tania Galloni, during a press conference outside the “Alligator Alcatraz” Detention Center in Ochopee, Florida. (Saul Martinez for Earthjustice) Earthjustice and partners are continuing the legal fight. In addition to violations of NEPA, the National Historic Preservation Act, and state laws, the groups plan to challenge the center’s violation of other federal laws. Beyond Florida, Earthjustice is working to stop illegal detention center construction and operation in other states. In one Maryland town, ICE plans to convert a warehouse with only four toilets into a facility to detain 1,500 immigrants. The agency offered no plan for managing wastewater flow into the Potomac River. As with Alligator Alcatraz, the administration sidestepped the required environmental review that would reveal potential health hazards. Legal action in Maryland that Earthjustice supported through an amicus brief has stopped detention center construction there while the case moves through court. In New Jersey, Earthjustice filed another amicus brief involving a warehouse detention center conversion. The administration recently decided to pause construction. The rapid warehouse conversion is a result of the budget Trump signed into law last year, which included an unprecedented increase in ICE’s funding from $10 billion to $100 billion by 2029. The massive funding came with a directive to deport one million people per year. To achieve that goal, ICE has detained many people with long-standing ties to the United States, no criminal histories, and who have dutifully reported to ICE for years. However, media reports indicated the administration may scale back those plans following nationwide criticism that intensified after ICE agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens protesting raids in their communities. Earthjustice will continue challenging illegal detention centers whenever environmental laws are broken. Florida Office The Florida regional office wields the power of the law to protect our waterways and biodiversity, promote a just and reliable transition to clean energy, and defend communities disproportionately burdened by pollution.
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