Judge orders halt to construction at Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center

A man holds an American flag in front of the entrance to Alligator Alcatraz, a new immigrant detention center located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Fla., July 12, 2025. An immigration detention center built in the Florida Everglades threatens protected lands and wildlife, and violated federal laws when the government failed to study potential harms before construction, environmentalists argued in federal court in Miami on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (Ava Pellor/The New York Times)

By Patricia Mazzei

Florida must stop construction at an immigration detention center in the remote Everglades for 14 days, a federal judge ruled Thursday, granting at least a temporary victory to environmentalists who say the facility has the potential to cause serious harm to sensitive wetlands and endangered species.

The judge, Kathleen Williams of U.S. District Court in Miami, issued a temporary restraining order from the bench, saying that the state could not install any more lighting, paving, fencing or other fixtures at the detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” Williams said she would issue a written order soon.

The order is temporary, giving the judge time to complete a hearing in the case, which was filed in June by several environmental groups. They argue that the project to build the facility, which is run by the state but houses federal immigration detainees, went ahead without first completing an environmental review required by federal law. The groups are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop operations and construction at the center.

In a statement, Alex Lanfranconi, the communications director for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, noted that detainees would remain in the detention center and that the ruling would have “no impact on immigration enforcement in Florida.”

“Alligator Alcatraz will remain operational, continuing to serve as a force multiplier to enhance deportation efforts,” Lanfranconi said, calling Williams an “activist judge.”

Williams heard testimony in the case for a day and a half before ruling from the bench.

On Wednesday, an environmental activist and witness for the plaintiffs, Jessica Namath, testified that she saw dozens of trucks carrying what appeared to be fill, as well as a soil compactor, driving into the detention center site as recently as last Friday. Her testimony suggested that there has been continued construction activity on the site.

State officials have said they wanted to double the detention center’s capacity to 4,000 detainees by the end of the month. They have argued that construction work and any potential environmental effects from it have been minimal.

The hearing will not be completed until next week because scheduling conflicts kept the state from presenting its witnesses until then. On Thursday, the plaintiffs asked the government to halt construction in the meantime. After government lawyers declined to make such a commitment, Williams heard arguments for and against the temporary restraining order, and then issued the order from the bench.

“It’s a temporary but appropriate pause on any further destruction of a sensitive area, to allow the parties to present their evidence and arguments on the preliminary injunction request,” said Paul Schwiep, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs.

In June, Williams held James Uthmeier, the state’s Republican attorney general and DeSantis’ former chief of staff, in civil contempt of court for defying her order in another case that blocked enforcement of a provision in a state immigration law. Uthmeier has appealed.

The environmental case is one of two filed in federal court against the detention center. The other relates to due process for detainees and immigration lawyers’ access to their clients.

Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security have tried to distance themselves from the detention center by arguing that its location and operations are the state’s responsibility.