Despite news that the last detainee is gone from the immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, the environmental groups that sued to shut it down gathered online Wednesday to make it known that they are nowhere near done.
The environmental groups whose lawsuits appeared to hasten the shuttering of the immigration center said Florida and the federal governments still have a lot of work to do to repair extensive environmental damage at the site.
The massive immigration detention center was built on a public jetport within the Everglades' Big Cypress National Preserve by the State of Florida, and without the environmental reviews or permitting required by the Endangered Species Act.
“How stupid do they think we are?"
- Paul Schwiep, attorney for Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity
"'Alligator Alcatraz' will go down as one of the biggest failures in American history," Eve Samples, director of Friends of the Everglades, said. "Our government failed to protect the Everglades and failed to follow basic environmental laws - while racking up a $1 billion tab paid by taxpayers. We sued to stop the harm, our case continues, and we will not let up until this makeshift prison permanently closes and all the damage is undone."
Samples said the facility continues to threaten the Everglades, with heavy equipment and lights still in operation and hazardous materials moving on and off the property near Ochopee. Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, which originally sued the Trump and DeSantis administrations in June 2025, affirmed their commitment to return to the trial court this month to stop the harm and force full remediation of the damage.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, sued in June 2025 to enforce the law that requires review of environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, which has villages close to the unpermitted facility, joined the lawsuit.
Alligator Alcatraz opened about a year ago, and is designed to hold up to 3,000 detainees. That makes it one of the largest immigration centers the world, thought necessary due to the many federal crackdowns by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agency, on Tuesday, said the detainees had been relocated.
Gov. Ron DeSantis left the door open for future operations at the detention center, officially called the South Florida Detention Facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
"We're not going to be done until the lights are off, the fence is down, the tents are gone, and there's a commitment that it will not be rebuilt," said Paul Schwiep, Miami-based attorney representing Friends and Center for Biological Diversity. "We don't know what they're doing, but we think the judge is going to get to the bottom of it and get definitive answers about what their long-term plans are here.
Advocacy groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, say they discovered wanton disregard for the surrounding environment by those who ran the facility One of the more egregious claims involve major violations of the Clean Air Act when workers built a huge power grid. More than 800-thousand square feet of marshy wetlands and drier uplands were paved over.
ICE released a statement this week saying there were no more detainees at the center, not due to the efforts of the environmental groups, but because immigration and customs' was so concerned for the alleged illegal aliens' safety in the soft-sided facility during Florida's hurricane season.
"They're removing people off the site claiming that it has something to do with hurricane season," said Schwiep, the Miami-based attorney. They built it and filled it with people during the hurricane season last year so that makes no sense. How stupid do they think we are?
The Florida Department of Emergency Management says it will cost taxpayers at least $40 million to repair the site.
In partnership with federal agencies, Florida hastily built the ICE detention center in June 2025 in Big Cypress National Preserve without conducting required federal environmental reviews.
"We will not rest until the government is held accountable for violating the law and the public trust," said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for Earthjustice's Florida regional office. "It is great that detainees have been removed from this devastating facility. But the risks to people and the environment remain. Now we must make sure nothing like this happens again."
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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