The 14-day stoppage comes as a federal judge considers whether additional construction of the immigration detention facility in south Florida’s Everglades is detrimental to the environment.
A federal judge has issued an order temporarily halting construction at an immigration center in Florida’s Everglades.
The judge said the addition of lighting, paving, fencing, fill, and other building on the site must stop while she hears a challenge to the facility brought by environmental groups. However, immigration detentions and other operations at the facility will continue as the legal process moves ahead.
In a lawsuit, Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice and the Miccosukee Tribe say the rushed construction of the facility — dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ by state officials — without public input or an environmental impact statement violates federal law.
The facility, which has tents and caged cells for up to 5,000 immigration detainees, is housed at a mostly abandoned airfield located within the wetlands of the Big Cypress National Preserve.
Lawyers for Florida and the Trump administration said because the facility was built and is operated by the state, federal law doesn’t apply. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams was unconvinced by that argument.
After two days of hearings, she became frustrated when she learned construction was still continuing at the site and lawyers for Florida refused a request to put it on hold.
