Environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit on Friday aiming to stop construction of a migrant detention center—nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”—on an airstrip deep in the Florida Everglades. The suit argues that the facility must undergo a comprehensive environmental review, as mandated by both federal and state law, and also allow for public input.
Opponents say the center, located in a delicate and ecologically vital wetland, is both environmentally damaging and inhumane. Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis and other Florida officials have defended the project as essential to the state’s support for former President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies.
Speaking during a visit to the site, DeSantis announced that the center would begin processing migrants who entered the U.S. illegally as early as next week. “The state of Florida is all in on President Trump’s mission,” DeSantis said on Fox & Friends. “There needs to be more ability to intake, process and deport.”
Construction is rapidly advancing on a compound that includes large tents, trailers, and other temporary structures at the Miami-Dade County-owned airfield within Big Cypress National Preserve, located roughly 45 miles west of downtown Miami.
The project has drawn political attention as well, with Florida Republicans launching merchandise featuring the phrase “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades, an environmental organization founded by Everglades advocate and author Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Legal representation includes Earthjustice attorneys and Scott Hiaasen, son of Florida journalist and novelist Carl Hiaasen.
“This site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by the Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “This scheme is not only cruel—it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
The complaint names several agencies as defendants, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
DeSantis’s office has vowed to fight the lawsuit. “Governor Ron DeSantis has insisted that Florida will be a force multiplier for federal immigration enforcement, and this facility is a necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a pre-existing airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment,” said his spokesman, Bryan Griffin, in a statement. “We look forward to litigating this case.”
Native American groups are also organizing resistance. A protest is planned for Saturday near the site, which is considered sacred by Indigenous communities. The Big Cypress area is home to 15 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole tribal villages, in addition to ceremonial and burial grounds and other culturally significant sites.
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