TALLAHASSEE, Florida — An environmental advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit against the executive director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management on Wednesday over claims that the immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” violates a federal air pollution law.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which is currently suing over other environmental claims related to Alligator Alcatraz, said in a statement Wednesday that it filed the latest lawsuit due to “substantial, unpermitted pollution from diesel generators and other air-polluting equipment,” that are being used at the facility.
Since Alligator Alcatraz opened in the Florida Everglades last summer, the detention center has become a lawsuit magnet over claims that it violates environmental laws and detainees’ due process. Despite reports that the facility may soon shut down, environmental groups have shown no signs of slowing their legal challenges against the state.
“Every day this facility continues to operate is another day of harm to people, endangered species and the delicate wetlands that sustain life in the Everglades,” Ryan Maher, a staff attorney with the group, said in a statement. “We’re going to hold the state accountable until every dirty diesel generator is removed from the site.”
