U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens, said a federal judge’s order to shut down Alligator Alcatraz within 60 days said the immigration detention center “should have never been built” from the start.
“After so much pressure from me and my colleagues, FINALLY ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ IS CLOSING DOWN,” she said in statement. “IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!”
“It was cruel, careless, and destructive from the start and should have never been built,” she said. “I’m glad it’s closing, and we must never repeat the mistakes made at this facility anywhere else!”
READ MORE: Florida must stop expanding 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration center, judge says
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction Thursday halting further expansion and ordering the winding down of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” that advocates said violated environmental laws.
The Miami federal court judge's injunction formalized a temporary halt she had ordered two weeks ago as witnesses continued to testify in a multiday hearing to determine whether construction should end until the ultimate resolution of the case.
The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly after the ruling was issued.
The judge said 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. She 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 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.,"
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 sufficiently explained 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
