Alligator Alcatraz prevails in court as judges shoot down environmental groups’ challenge

A federal appeals court gave its imprimatur to Alligator Alcatraz, Florida’s detention facility built in the Everglades to house illegal immigrants for the federal government, rejecting a challenge by groups who said the facility violated environmental law.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, said the facility is under the control of Florida, which means that it is not subject to the same environmental review that it would have been if it had been the federal government that erected it.

The fact that the federal government now has oversight over the migrants detained there doesn’t change that fact, ruled Judge William Pryor, a George W. Bush appointee.

“A property owner who builds an office building must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but his compliance with federal law does not make it a federal building. Because Florida ‘retain[ed its] state law authority to make the decisions concerning the project,’ the facility was not subject to federal control and its construction did not trigger the Act,” Judge Pryor concluded.

A district judge had ruled otherwise, and ordered a halt to any expansion of the facility.

That ruling had been put on hold while the case was decided by the appeals court.

Judge Nancy Abudu, a Biden pick for the court, dissented. She said the court was allowing the federal government to get away with a semantics game, ducking its responsibilities by using Florida as its agent.

“It cannot, and should not, be the case that the federal government, which all parties agree has exclusive control over the detention of migrants, can abdicate its responsibility to exercise that control in a way that is consistent with federal law simply because, here, Florida has supported DHS and ICE in carrying out this endeavor,” she wrote.

The facility was part of a Trump push last year to expand detention space at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, offered his state’s assistance. Other Republican governors quickly followed.

The facility is on the property of Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Everglades.

Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which sued to stop the facility, said the state had paved over sensitive lands to build it.