TALLAHASSEE, Florida — An environmental group claimed Tuesday in a lawsuit filed in state court that Florida officials “wrongfully” withheld public records regarding federal funding for “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigration detention facility that opened last summer in the Everglades.
Details: Friends of the Everglades, which joined other groups this summer in a federal lawsuit attempting to block the facility from opening, said the state withheld a federal grant application that could have played a critical role in a Sept. 4 appeals court ruling.
The split panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was “undisputed” that the state had not applied for federal funding and blocked a district court judge’s order in August to shut down the facility.
“The Court of Appeals said more than once that the Florida Department of Emergency Management had not applied for federal funding,” attorney Paul Schwiep said in a statement Tuesday. “We now know this was wrong.”
