Obama Judge Denies Trump Admin Request To Stop Alligator Alcatraz From Winding Down

Alligator Alcatraz is phasing out migrant detainees as lawsuits against the facility pile on and a federal judge repeatedly rules against the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, appointed to the bench in Florida by the Obama administration, denied a request on Wednesday by the Trump administration and Florida officials to pause her previous order demanding operations at Alligator Alcatraz wind down, according to court documents. Federal officials have since confirmed that detainees at the Florida detention center are being transferred to other facilities.

“Defendants rehash the same general arguments about the importance of 🛂Immigration enforcement they presented during the Preliminary Injunction Hearing,” Williams wrote in her eight-page order. “As Defendants provide no new evidence or argument about the particular dangerousness of the detainee population at or the need for a detention facility in this particular location, the Court will not repeat the shortcomings of Defendants’ claims here.”

Siding with environmentalists suing against the facility, Williams earlier in August ordered a temporary restraining order against any further construction of Alligator Alcatraz while debate over whether the facility violates environmental laws continued. The Obama-appointed judge ordered an indefinite halt on new construction on Aug. 21 and prohibited new detainees from being brought into the facility, according to court documents.

Florida officials appealed the order, but Williams on Wednesday declined to pause her ruling pending appeal. Referring to her as an “activist judge,” the Trump administration ripped Williams in a public statement.