Environmental Groups Sue To Block ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center

Environmental activists filed a lawsuit on Friday to stop the construction of a novel detention center for foreign nationals in Florida’s swampland.

The Trump administration previously green-lit a proposal by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to build a migrant detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” However, just after the federal government announced it would help fund the endeavor, two major environmental groups are attempting to block its construction.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Friday to stop the implementation of the “reckless plan,” according to a press release from the organizations.

“The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species,” Eve Samples, Executive Director of Friends of the Everglades, said in a public statement.

“This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,” Samples continued. “Friends of the Everglades was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 to stop harmful development at this very location. Fifty-six years later, the threat has returned — and it poses another existential threat to the Everglades.”

The lawsuit Friday names the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 🛂Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County as defendants, according to court documents