Donald Trump‘s beloved ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ has been ordered to be dismantled within the next 60 days and must stop taking in illegal migrants.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Mary Williams’ injunction formalized a temporary halt she had ordered two weeks ago as witnesses continued to testify in a multi-day hearing to determine whether construction should end until the ultimate resolution of the case.
The judge said that she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed.
Opened in July, the detention center, located in the middle of the Florida Everglades, has been touted by the White House as the crown jewel of the administration’s deportation policy.
Trump called it ‘incredible’ during a tour with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that same month.
Now, its become the latest example of the judiciary’s fight with Trump over the issue that put him over the line more than any other in the 2024 election: taking out those migrants he called ‘the worst of the worst.’
Murray wrote the state and federal defendants can’t bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property.
The case was brought to the court by the Miccosukee Native American Tribe and environmental groups asking for it to take in no new migrants.
Donald Trump ‘s beloved ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ has been ordered to be dismantled within the next 60 days and must stop taking in illegal migrants
Protestors, including some from the Miccosukee Native American Tribe who filed the lawsuit, greeted Trump at his visit in July
They had argued that further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials complied with environmental laws.
Their lawsuit claims the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars´ worth of environmental restoration.
When reached for comment by The Daily Mail, a spokesperson for Governor DeSantis did not suggest his state would bend the knee.
‘The deportations will continue until morale improves,’ Communications Director Alex Lanfranconi said in a statement.
Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress said in a statement: ‘This is not the first fight for our land and our rights. We welcome the court’s decision to halt further expansion of this facility, and we will continue to fight to ensure that the government does not dodge its legal requirements for environmental review on seized public lands sacred to our people.’
‘It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them,’ said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, one of the environmental groups behind the suit.
The Daily Mail has also reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
The order does not prohibit modification or repairs to existing facilities, ‘which are solely for the purpose of increasing safety or mitigating environmental or other risks at the site,’ she said.
Trump called it ‘incredible’ during a tour with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in July
Opened in July, the detention center, located in the middle of the Florida Everglades, has been touted by the White House as the crown jewel of the administration’s deportation policy
The preliminary injunction includes ‘those who are in active concert or participation with’ the state of Florida or federal defendants or their officers, agents, employees,’ the judge wrote in an 82-page order.
The judge said state officials never explained sufficiently why the facility needed to be in the middle of the Florida Everglades.
‘What is apparent, however, is that in their haste to construct the detention camp, the State did not consider alternative locations,’ Williams said.
Attorneys for the state and federal governments argued that, although the detention center would be holding federal detainees, the construction and operation of the facility was entirely under the state of Florida, meaning the federal environmental law didn’t apply.
The judge has said the detention facility was, at a minimum, a joint partnership between the state and federal government.
The detention center was quickly built almost two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades.
It currently holds several hundred detainees but was designed to eventually hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures.
In early July, when Trump toured the facility, he couldn’t have been more complimentary and openly wished more states would build similar buildings.
Federal agents arrest an illegal migrant during a targeted enforcement operation in Miami
‘It is not a place I want to go hiking any time soon,’ Trump said. ‘Very soon this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, the most vicious people on the planet. We’re surrounded by miles of swamp land and the only way out is deportation.’
Trump said he’d like to see similar facilities in ‘many states,’ adding Florida would getting a second one ‘and probably a couple more.’
‘At some point they might morph into a system where you’re going to keep it for a long time,’ he added.
‘The incredible thing is picking the site because the site was one of the most natural sites. It might be as good as the real Alcatraz. Well, that’s a spooky one too. That’s a tough site. So I really think it could last as long as they want to have,’ he said.
The president noted that ‘I couldn’t care less’ that the facilities were controversial.
Trump looked visibly pleased with the setup during his tour, observing stacks of bunk beds behind chain-linked fencing inside an air conditioned tent in a Florida swamp.
Democrats have slammed the facility as a ‘makeshift prison camp,’ while environmentalists have questioned its impact on the local climates and Native Americans protested it being built on sacred ground.
The controversial detention facility was spearheaded by Florida Republican leaders and garnered its nickname due to its location: it sits about 37 miles from Miami in the middle of a swamp surrounded by snakes and alligators — and in an area of the state that is prone to hurricanes.
Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress celebrated the ruling in a statement
The $450 million-per-year detention facility, which will be able to hold up to 3,000 undocumented immigrants, was built in just seven days.
There are only tents and trailers – no brick-or-mortar buildings. It was constructed on land belonging to Miami-Dade County and seized by state officials over local leaders’ objections.
It sits next to an 11,000 foot airstrip. DeSantis said the runway there can be used to quickly fly undocumented immigrants to third countries if deportation is deemed appropriate.
‘You literally drive them 2,000 feet, put them on a plane and then they’re gone,’ DeSantis said.
Trump made migrant removal central to his presidential campaign and has praised other harsh detention centers, including Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador’s mega-prison.
However, Judge Murray’s ruling became the latest attempt by the judiciary to stymy Trump’s agenda of ridding the country of illegal migrants.
Judge James Boasberg has made multiple rulings against the Trump immigration plan during his first six months in office.
In June, he ruled that the White House must give migrants sent to an El Salvador prison a chance to challenge their removals.
Trump and Noem both stated that they wanted other states to build their own version of DeSantis’ original
Judge Murray’s ruling became the latest attempt by the judiciary to stymy Trump’s agenda of ridding the country of illegal migrants
Boasberg has quickly become an enemy of the president after ruling in mid-March to block Trump’s deportation flights of illegal immigrant gang members.
Trump has called Boasberg a ‘radical’ appointee of Barack Obama and accused him of trying to ‘usurp the power of the presidency’ while Republicans have argued for the judge to be impeached – leading Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to defend Boasberg.
‘His current and previous attempts to prevent President Trump from deporting criminal illegal aliens poses a direct threat to the safety of the American people. Fortunately for the American people, Judge Boasberg does not have the last word,’ Jackson added.
In his previous attacks on Boasberg, Trump called the judge a ‘publicity hound’ after the judge halted his massive deportation of migrants with a temporary restraining order.
‘Judge James Boasberg is doing everything in his power to usurp the Power of the Presidency,’ he warned.
‘The danger is unparalleled!’
Boasberg had issued the temporary order after the administration flew more than 200 alleged gangsters to El Salvador.
Trump mocked Boasberg as ‘a local, unknown Judge’ and added that he’s a ‘grandstander, looking for publicity.’
In a separate post, he demanded that nationwide injunctions be stopped permanently and called on the Supreme Court to help.
‘Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country!’ he wrote.
‘If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!’
Roberts, however, issued a stunning rebuke after Trump called for the impeachment of Boasberg.
But Trump insisted that liberal judges are trying to assume the powers of the presidency ‘without getting 80 million votes,’ saying that the ‘danger’ they could cause is ‘unparalleled.’
‘A President has to be allowed to act quickly and decisively about such matters as returning murderers, drug lords, rapists, and other such type criminals back to their Homeland, or to other locations that will allow our Country to be SAFE,’ he added.
