Federal judge orders shutdown of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to protect the Everglades environment.
Yesterday a federal judge in Miami ordered that the detention center known as « Alligator Alacatraz » must be shut down within the next 60 days. Starting immediately, no additional detainees can be brought to the site and within 60 days all of the infrastructure for the site has to be removed.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams entered a preliminary injunction to prevent the installation of any additional industrial-style lighting and any site expansion. Her ruling further prevents “bringing any additional persons . who were not already being detained at the site at the time of this order.”.
Within 60 days, “and once the population attrition allows for safe implementation of this Order,” the facility must also remove “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project,” the 82-page ruling said.
It must also remove additional lighting that was installed for the detention facility. Light pollution was a hot topic during the hearings this month.
It’s unclear how the facility will remain operational if those resources are removed.
The answer to that last question is: It won’t. Gov. DeSantis had predicted this outcome earlier in the week.
