Environmental groups are suing to halt construction of the new immigrant detention facility in the Everglades referred to by President Trump as “Alligator Alcatraz,” arguing that Florida officials and the federal government have trampled over environmental regulations in their rush to build the facility.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday by the Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, came as Mr. Trump traveled to Florida to promote the project. In recent days, both the Trump administration and Florida’s Republican leaders have cited the area’s remote location and proximity to dangerous wildlife as key reasons for placing a detention facility there.
Among other things, the lawsuit claims that the facility is being hastily put up in protected ecological areas within the Big Cypress National Preserve, a nationally and state-protected site that Florida has spent decades and billions of dollars working to preserve.
It argues that construction was started last week without any environmental review, contrary to requirements laid out by the National Environmental Policy Act and over the objection of some local and state officials. The environmental groups also accused Florida of moving forward with the project without giving members of the public an opportunity weigh in.
“With the federal and state government investing well over $10 billion since 2019 in Everglades restoration and protection, we would appreciate a detailed analysis and report on environmental impacts of this facility to the Everglades,” Daniella Levine Cava, the Miami-Dade County mayor, wrote in a letter cited in the lawsuit.
The groups have asked a federal judge to halt any further pre-construction activities or efforts to convert the site into an immigration detention facility until the government at least complies with environmental reviews.
In their complaint filed on Monday, the groups collected images of heavy truck traffic in and out of the area, and noted the intensive construction necessary to build what the government has sketched out: A 5,000-bed facility with prefabricated housing, water and sewage infrastructure; security fencing; and high-intensity security lighting.
They added that the site, which is owned by Miami-Dade County, is a critical habitat for a variety of endangered species including Florida panthers and Everglade snail kite.
The environmentalists also noted a striking coincidence.
When Friends of the Everglades was founded in 1969, its mission was to oppose the construction of what was intended to be the world’s largest airport in the exact spot that the detention facility is now planned. The group, started by the environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, succeeded in blocking the airport and preserving the surrounding lands, leaving only the completed runway behind.
“Now, history is repeating itself as Friends once again must act to prevent destructive development in the heart of the Everglades ecosystem in the same location,” the environmental groups wrote.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the federal courts, including the legal disputes over the Trump administration’s agenda.
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