MIAMI — A federal judge Thursday ruled construction must temporarily stop at “Alligator Alcatraz” as hearings challenging the Everglades-based detention center’s environmental impact continue.
District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered the state to, at the very least, stop installing additional lighting, infrastructure, pavement, filling or fencing and to halt excavation for 14 days. She called the request for the temporary restraining order from the plaintiffs, which represent environmental groups, “pretty reasonable” to prevent further interruption to the ecosystem. The judge, an Obama-era appointee, said the plaintiffs had introduced evidence of “ongoing environmental harms.”
“I think that evidence is sufficient to support the plaintiffs’ claims,” she said, pointing to how many elected officials, including presidents, had lauded the Everglades over the years and wanted it to remain “pristine.”
The decision came after Williams heard arguments from expert witnesses theorizing that newly created pavement in the area would have consequences on America’s largest wetlands. The airstrip housing the detention center is surrounded by the federally protected Big Cypress National Preserve, a fragile ecosystem home to endangered species like the Florida bonneted bat and the Florida panther.
