Florida immigrant advocates and activists celebrated Thursday night’s federal court decision to dismantle Alligator Alcatraz, the contentious immigration detention center erected in the Everglades.
“The ruling highlights what community organizations already knew: in their haste to build the nation’s first state-run detention facility, the DeSantis Administration refused to consider the environmental impacts of the camp on sacred indigenous land,” said the groups in a joint statement issued Friday.
“We will continue to push for the permanent closure of the Everglades Concentration Camp and denounce any new detention centers,” they said.
READ MORE: State appeals ruling that would shut down 'Alligator Alcatraz'
A federal judge has put a stop to further expansion of the immigration detention center, ordering that its operations wind down within two months.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami wrote in her 82-page order late Thursday that Florida officials never sufficiently explained why an immigration detention center needed to be located in the middle of sensitive wetlands cherished by environmentalists and outdoors people.
She also said that state and federal authorities never undertook an environmental review as required by federal law before Florida officials hastily built the detention camp which they championed as a model for President Donald Trump's immigration policies.
That failure adversely affected the “recreational, conservational, and aesthetic interests” of the environmental groups and Miccosukee Tribe which brought the lawsuit, she said.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday reacted to the ruling, saying he would not be deterred by “an activist judge.”
“We knew this would be something that would likely happen,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Panama City. "We will respond accordingly. You either have a country or you don’t.”
In a statement on Friday, Florida Immigrant Coalition Deputy Direct Renata Bozzetto called the detention center “a huge environmental threat.”
“Housing hundreds, even thousands, of men in tents in the middle of the fragile Everglades puts immense strain on delicate wetlands, pollutes sacred ecosystems, and endangers marshlands that serve as a crucial source of fresh water,” Bozetto said in a statement.
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, Policy Coordinator with American Friends Service Committee, slammed Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying he was willing to cause irreparable harm to the Everglades, so long as he could continue his anti-immigrant crusade.”
Florida Power Organizing Director Michidael Ceard called the judge’s ruling “a powerful victory for young people across Florida who are organizing for a future rooted in dignity, freedom, and justice.”
Oliver Torres, Chief of Staff at Sanctuary of the South, said DeSantis trampled on environmental protections, Indigenous sovereignty, and immigrant dignity.”
"This is sacred land. Not a bargaining chip. Not a construction site for human suffering,” Torres said in a statement
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
