As they urge a U.S. district judge to halt an immigrant detention center in the Everglades, environmental groups are pushing back against Trump administration arguments seeking to distance the federal government from responsibility for the project.
The state last week began operating what has been dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" at a remote site surrounded by the Everglades and the Big Cypress National Preserve, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials try to help President Donald Trump's mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit last month seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to put the project on hold until legal wrangling is resolved.
ALSO READ: DOJ pushes back against environmental legal challenge to 'Alligator Alcatraz' in the Everglades
The environmental groups contend in the lawsuit that the facility should be halted because it threatens environmentally sensitive areas and species in the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve. The state decided to build the facility at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a remote site used for flight training.
In part, the lawsuit alleges federal and state agencies have violated the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law that requires evaluating potential environmental impacts before such a project can move forward.
State and federal attorneys contend that the environmental groups have not shown the project would cause "irreparable" harm to the surrounding areas. Also, they have cited the broader effort by the Trump administration and state Republican leaders to crack down on illegal immigration.
Trump administration lawyers also argued last week that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security "has not implemented, authorized, directed or funded" the Florida facility, so the predevelopment impact analysis was not required.
But attorneys for the environmental groups, in a document filed Thursday, said the federal government "cannot shirk" legal requirements "by passing the buck to the state; the state is bound as a partner. They should all be enjoined as a result of their undisputed failure to comply with" the law.
"Defendants ignore the obvious: In performing exclusively federal functions on immigration enforcement, the state must necessarily be acting under federal control and authority at every step to build, maintain, and operate the detention center, because the state otherwise lacks the power to detain and deport individuals under federal immigration law. This project is necessarily a major federal action … as the state cannot act in this field without federal approval or control," the groups' lawyers wrote.
The groups also disputed state and federal officials' contention that the detention center would have a minimal impact on the environment and protected species, including Florida panthers and bonneted bats, in the area.
The need for an injunction "has only grown more urgent" since the lawsuit was filed on June 27, said Thursday's document, which included before-and-after photos of the site.
"While the state continues to downplay the impacts of the detention center (and describe it as 'temporary'), the evidence proves otherwise: Previously unimproved sections of the site have been filled and paved; roads have been added and expanded; and the night sky over Big Cypress now glows like Yankee Stadium, visible from 15 miles away," the environmental groups' lawyers wrote.
"Environmental impacts" from the detention project "will be devastating," they argued.
"Defendants cannot hide from this fact – or from the public – under cover of darkness and avoid their responsibilities under federal law. An injunction should be entered to prevent further damage and maintain the status quo while this action is pending," the document said.
ALSO READ: 'People are there': First immigration detainees arrive at 'Alligator Alcatraz' in the Everglades
The facility is intended to house, process and deport migrants, with National Guard troops and private contractors providing security. It has the capacity to house up to 3,000 detainees. The lawsuit is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez.
As controversy about the detention center sparked international headlines, DeSantis, Trump and other high-ranking GOP officials embraced the attention.
Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, along with other state and federal officials, to tour the facility last week. The Republican Party of Florida and a political committee linked to Uthmeier are selling "Alligator Alcatraz" merchandise.
Speaking at an event Monday in Jacksonville, DeSantis said the federal government would reimburse the state for the costs of the facility, estimated at roughly $450 million in its first year of operation.
"When you spend money for this, you save money (related to undocumented immigrants), because you take (away) stress of hospitals, schools, criminal justice," the governor said. "We're fronting it, but we're getting reimbursed in it."
Detainees include "really bad dudes," according to DeSantis.
"The reality is some of the people DHS is sending there, they have committed a lot of criminal misconduct," he added. "We need to make sure that they're removed from the country."
The state is spending millions of dollars on contracts with private companies to provide health services, food, security and other services at the facility.
Among the vendors is GardaWorld Federal Services, an international security company that has contracts for immigration detention services with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
GardaWorld recently posted advertisements saying it was hiring security guards in Ochopee — the location of Alligator Alcatraz — who would be paid $25 per hour and be expected to work 60 hours per week.
"All personnel will be required to live on-site, and meals and housing will be provided. Flights provided!" the ad said.
Applicants "must legally own and possess a registered approved 9mm semiautomatic pistol, .40 caliber handgun OR .45 ACP handgun" and have a minimum of one year experience in "armed security, law enforcement, or military, with a strong preference for experience in a custodial setting."
The state also plans to open a detention center for undocumented immigrants at North Florida's Camp Blanding, which is used as a training site for the Florida National Guard.
The Camp Blanding facility is expected to house 1,000 detainees, according to a "State Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan" provided by DeSantis' office.
Copyright 2025 WUSF 89.7