MIAMI — A federal appeals court on Tuesday heard arguments over whether to lift its temporary hold on a lower court’s decision that effectively sought to dismantle the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in the Everglades.
The injunction was issued as a result of a lawsuit brought last year by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe, which argued federal officials failed to abide by national environmental laws when they set out to quickly build the tented facility on an airstrip that’s surrounded by the federally protected Big Cypress National Preserve. The detention center is still in operation after the appeals court temporarily blocked the lower court’s order in September.
The three-judge panel didn’t say when they would issue a decision. Legal counsel for the environmental groups argued the federal government controls the facility, and so it must undergo a national environmental review.
Attorneys representing the state and federal government countered Alligator Alcatraz has received no significant federal funding or control and that a state-owned facility is not subject to the law in question, known as the National Environmental Policy Act. Under NEPA, the federal government must collect studies and feedback about the environmental impact of federal projects and consider alternative sites.
