A Federal Court of Appeals has ordered this Thursday to suspend, the controversial detention center for migrants in the Everglades of Florida. The panel of three judges in Atlanta decided by vote of 2-1 to suspend the order of the lawyer Williams while the appeal is resolved, arguing that it is of public interest. This new failure allows the installation, which was built just in a week at the end of June, continues to retain migrants for the moment.
On August 21, the judge issued a preliminary court order that provided that the operations in the installation had to cease within 60 days with the transfer of the detainees to other centers and the uninstall of equipment and fences. That decision was the result of a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and, who accused the state and federal defendants of not complying with the federal law that requires an environmental review to build in the wetlands where the immigration jail is located.
“This is a devastating blow for the United States Everglades and for every creature that lives there, but the case is far from having finished,” said Elise Bennett, main lawyer of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The administration of the Republican governor inaugurated in the first week of July the installation on an isolated air track and surrounded by wetlands to support the efforts of President Donald Trump to deport undocumented migrants currently in the country. The location, in the remote Everglades region, was designed as a deterrent element against leaks, giving rise to its nickname in reference to the famous jail in the San Francisco Bay. He won so much attention that Trump visited the jail on the day of his opening and suggested that it could serve as a model for future detention centers throughout the country, within the framework of its plan to expand the necessary infrastructure to increase deportations.
After August, Governor Desantis denied that the closure of the installation was imminent. “We said we would fight that. We said the mission would continue,” he said. “So Aligator Alcatraz is, in fact, as we have always said, open.” And this week, the state of Florida had already communicated in judicial documents that planned to resume the admission of detainees if the suspension was granted. Now, the Court of Appeals has proved him right.
The National Security Department (DHS) has described Thursday’s ruling as “a victory for the American people, the rule of law and common sense.” “This demand had to do with the environmental impacts of converting an airport already developed into a detention center. It has always been treated and will always be open border activists and judges that try to prevent forces of order from expelling dangerous criminals from our communities, an end point,” said the DHS in a statement.
The federal government argues that it is not responsible for, since it has not spent anything in its construction or operation, although Florida has said that it seeks to obtain federal funds to cover part of its cost. At the same time, Florida states that the environmental impact studies required by federal law does not apply at the state level.
In the ruling on Thursday, most of the appeals panel greatly accepted these arguments. And they emphasized that Williams was wrong to assume that the statements of federal officials on reimbursement of the State were equivalent to a final decision on the financing of the installation.
