Legal challenges are gathering steam over the Trump administration’s bid to outsource immigration detention to the state of Florida at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz detention facility deep in the Everglades.
U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz held a 90-minute hearing Monday on a lawsuit the ACLU filed last month over a lack of access to lawyers and immigration courts for prisoners kept at the makeshift jail built at a site once planned as an airport for supersonic aircraft.
Ruiz, a Miami-based Trump appointee, said a “paramount” issue in the case is whether the state or federal government is in charge.
“There seems to be some confusion as to who exactly is running the show at Alligator Alcatraz,” the judge said, saying he’ll consider ordering the state and feds to quickly turn over any written agreements to the ACLU.
