The legal fight over Florida’s immigrant detention facility in the Everglades is now entangled in the federal government shutdown.
Citing the absence of funding in the new fiscal year that began Oct. 1, Justice Department lawyers want an appellate court to freeze the high-profile litigation over the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” until the shutdown ends. Environmentalists, though, insist that there is no time to waste in the effort to protect the sensitive Everglades ecosystem.
“It is indeed regrettable that the lapse in appropriations has caused disruption at the Department of Justice,” environmental organizations stated in a brief filed Friday, adding that the detention facility “imperils sensitive wetlands, endangered species, and communities in the area.”
Underscoring their call for expedited legal action, Earthjustice, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity said in their brief that “construction and operation of the facility is ongoing, with new paving occurring” since work was allowed to resume under a previous court ruling.
