ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing a funding dilemma for an immigration detention center known as the “Crocodile Alcatraz” built in the Florida Everglades.
Last week, an appeals court panel temporarily blocked a lower court’s decision to order the governor’s administration to abolish operations at the facility.
But the verdict sets a predicament. The state risks giving or receiving the hundreds of millions of dollars of federal refunds spent on building and operating the facility, or taking money, and halting the operation of the center in the face of environmental reviews.
That’s because the majority of the three judge appeal panel decided for the time being that for the time being, there is no need to undergo the federally necessary environmental impact research necessary for the facility to build on sensitive wetlands. why? Because Florida has yet to receive federal money for the project, despite authorities pledged it.
If Florida receives federal funding, the state may need to conduct environmental analysis, the judge wrote in a 2-1 decision. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Christa Noem said on social media this summer that the facility will be funded primarily by FEMA’s shelter and services programs.
The law makes it clear that “the lack of federal funds will make the case “non-federal” rather than subject to environmental review,” the majority of the appeals panel said.
The decision maintained a preliminary injunction by District Judge Kathleen Williams, who ordered the detention facility to be closed by late October. The stay has been filed with appeals filed by the government defendant.
“No federal dollars are spent here on the construction or use of the facility,” the appeals panel said. “So, Florida-funded Florida-funded Florida-operated detention activities that occur on the site do not even consider “major federal projects.” ”
When asked Tuesday whether the appeals panel’s decision would affect the state’s federal funding application, the governor’s office did not provide a direct answer. Instead, Press Secretary Molly talks about “Alligator Alcatraz” on social media, and bestled DeSantis’ video clip in an interview with Fox host Sean Hannity. Desantis did not discuss funds in either clip.
An Associated Press analysis of publicly available state spending data showed that as of late August, Florida had signed a vendor agreement of at least $405 million to build and operate the facility.
As of July, the single largest state contract associated with the facility was a $78.5 million deal with Critical Response Strategy, a Jacksonville-based consulting firm. Covered liability includes the employment of observers, camp managers, corrections officers and IT workers.
In late June, the DeSantis administration built the facility on an isolated runway surrounded by wetlands and to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to illegally deport Americans. Trump toured the facility in July and suggested that it could be a model for future lockups around the country as his administration is pushing for expanding infrastructure abroad. The centre is plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being separated from the legal system. Other states have since announced plans to open their own immigration detention centres.
The environmental lawsuit is one of the operations to challenge three federal lawsuits at the Everglades detention center. The second Florida immigration detention center opened last week in a closed prison in North Florida.
“Florida taxpayers should not step into the federal immigration bill,” said Paul Schwiep, an attorney representing friends at the Everglades, one of the environmental groups that sued Florida and the U.S. government. “Judge Williams believed in the governor when he said the federal government would fund the job, and when she said the same thing, he believed in Chief Noem. Meanwhile, the majority of appeals said they couldn’t believe politicians when they made such a statement.”
Elise Bennett, a senior counsel at the Center for Biodiversity, another environmental group that is the plaintiff in the suit, said “there is another possibility that the DeSantis administration and DHS can ‘take and eat cake’.
A majority of appellants indicate that federal agencies can withhold refunds until the project is completed.
