Video above: 3rd federal lawsuit targets Wannial Catraz
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The Florida Everglades immigration detention center, known as the “Alligator Alcatraz,” must continue moving towards a halt of closure operations by late October.
US District Judge Kathleen Williams declined a request late Wednesday to suspend her order to close out the operation at the facility.
The facility had already empty detainees, according to an email exchange shared with the Associated Press on Wednesday. Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Florida Emergency Management, said on August 22, “We’re going to “down to zero in a few days,” and in a message about pastoral services at the facility to Rabbi Mario Logisman in South Florida, it’s not going to be needed anytime soon.
The detention centre was quickly built at a training airport that was used slightly two months ago. Here, chain link cages surround a large white tent filled with rows of chunks. State officials have signed more than $245 million in a contract to build and operate the facility, which officially opened on July 1.
President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and proposed that it could be a model for future lockups abroad.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security lawyer said Williams’ order last week would disrupt the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws.
However, in the order Wednesday night, the judge said the detainee population is already declining at the facilities, and the federal government’s “immigration enforcement targets will not be hampered by a suspension of operations.”
The administration of Ron DeSantis, a Florida Republican, is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility in a state prison in North Florida, known as the “deportation depot.”
In an order last week, Williams said he hopes the “Alligator Alcatraz” population will decline within 60 days by relocating detentions to other facilities, and that if that happens, fencing, lighting and generators will need to be removed. She wrote the state and wrote that federal defendants cannot bring new detainees into their property.
State officials said shutting down the facility for the time being would cost $15-$20 million, and an additional $15-$20 million to reinstall the structure if the facility is ultimately permitted to reopen. They also said the Florida Department of Emergency Management would lose most of the $218 million worth of its investment in creating a training airport suitable for detention centers.
“Wannial Catraz” has been the target of several lawsuits, ranging from its impact on the Everglades to civil rights concerns.
Environmental groups and the Mikkoski tribe said further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials comply with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit alleges that the facility threatens sensitive wetlands, home to protected plants and animals, and reverses billions of dollars over decades to restore the environment.
Civil rights groups filed a second lawsuit against the state and federal governments last month over practices at the Everglades facility, alleging that detainees were denied access to the legal system. Another federal judge dismissed a portion of the suit last week and moved the case to another court district on procedural grounds.
Last Friday, the third lawsuit by civil rights groups described “serious issues” at facilities “previously unprecedented in the immigration system.” The lawsuit alleges that the detainee has been in custody for weeks without charges and disappeared from Ice’s online detainee locator, with no one at the facility making initial custody or bond decisions.
The group hopes to issue a restraining order and a temporary injunction in federal court in Fort Myers that prohibits Florida agents and their contractors from detaining detainees.
Because immigration is a federal name, rights groups say Florida agencies and state private contractors do not have the authority to operate the facilities. Rights groups hope that the lawsuit will be recognized as a class action lawsuit.
Meanwhile, almost 20 Republican-led states have urged appellate courts to review Williams’ order. 22 countries in court filings argued that she went beyond her authority and that federal environmental laws only apply to federal agencies, not to Florida.
