NEWS UPDATE: Judge orders halt to expansion of Alligator Alcatraz
Everglades prison camp can keep functioning, but workers are barred from further construction for at least the next two weeks
NEWS UPDATE
A federal judge in Miami, after two days of hearings, has issued a temporary restraining order barring any further construction at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, the immigrant prison camp in the Everglades.
The detainment facility may continue operating, the judge ruled, but no new filling, paving or infrastructure may take place for the next two weeks.
Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe are suing to halt the expansion of the facility, arguing that both the state and federal governments failed to comply with laws requiring studies to assess the potential environmental damage the prison camp could cause had been improperly ignored.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of Miami presided over the evidentiary hearings that stretched into today because, as Kimberly Leonard of Politico reports, neither side finished questioning witnesses Wednesday.
Three themes emerged during the hearings, Leonard reported. Check out her full report here:
By the end of today’s hearing, Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the environmental groups filing suit, asked Judge Williams to issue a temporary restraining order that would at least prevent any new construction at the site while the preliminary injunction was argued.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported:
Williams asked Florida attorney Jesse Panuccio if the state would agree to halt construction so that she wouldn’t need to issue the restraining order. She pointed out that anything built at the site would likely remain there permanently, regardless of how the case was ultimately decided.
Panuccio said he couldn’t guarantee that the state would stop all work.
This sparked an hour-long hearing about the temporary restraining order, which will be in place for the next two weeks while the still ongoing preliminary injunction hearing continues.
The lawsuit in Miami against federal and state authorities is one of two legal challenges to the South Florida detention center which was built more than a month ago by the state of Florida on an isolated airstrip in southeastern Collier County
A second lawsuit brought by civil rights groups says detainees’ constitutional rights are being violated since they are barred from meeting lawyers, are being held without any charges, and a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 18.
Under the 55-year-old federal environmental law, federal agencies should have examined how the detention center’s construction would impact the environment, identified ways to minimize the impact and followed other procedural rules such as allowing public comment, according to the environmental groups and the tribe.
Here’s a link to my earlier reporting on the hearing in case you missed it. It, too, has been updated.
J.C. Bruce is the editor of Tropic Press, an award winning journalist and columnist, and author. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida.
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