Environmentalists sued the Trump administration and the state of Florida on Friday for an alleged failure to conduct environmental studies before erecting an immigrant detention facility in the middle of the Everglades.
The lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades seeks to stop construction and operation of “Alligator Alcatraz” until agencies complete assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The conservation groups say the project could irreparably harm the Everglades, the nation’s largest wetland ecosystem, which state and federal governments have spent billions of dollars to restore and protect.
“This [project] reflects a series of bad policy decisions that do not respect the deeply held conservation values of most Floridians,” said Jason Totoiu, Florida policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
