A federal judge slammed the brakes on construction at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center Thursday amid an escalating legal battle over whether the site violates environmental laws.
The immigrant detention facility will continue to hold detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but workers are barred from adding any new fill, pavement, or infrastructure for the next 14 days, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled during a Thursday hearing. That would stop any expansion of the facility in the short-term.
Williams, an Obama appointee, said she would issue a written order soon.
The temporary order allows Williams time to complete a hearing in a lawsuit filed at the end of June in Miami by two environmental groups—Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The eco-warriors argue the controversial facility violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, and that the state plowed ahead with construction without conducting required environmental reviews.
They say the project could undermine billions of dollars in Everglades restoration efforts.
The attorney representing the State of Florida, Jesse Panuccio, pushed back on these claims Thursday, arguing that because the facility was built and is operated solely by the state—even while housing federal detainees—NEPA doesn’t apply, WTOP News reported.
A pet project of Gov. Ron DeSantis, “Alligator Alcatraz” was hastily built and opened on July 1. Allegations of inhumane treatment—including beatings and gropings—surfaced almost immediately.
DeSantis wrote on X that operations at the facility “are ongoing and deportations are continuing” in response to the ruling.
Operations at Alligator Alcatraz are ongoing and deportations are continuing. https://t.co/UOCfVP1Azy
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 7, 2025
The first deportation flights from the facility began at the end of the month.
The Daily Beast has reached out to both environmental groups and to Panuccio.
On July 16, civil rights lawyers filed a separate lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the detention center, alleging that detainees are being held without charges, denied access to attorneys, and that immigration courts have canceled bond hearings. A hearing for the case is scheduled for later this month.
The legal proceedings are playing out amid reports that DeSantis’ administration is preparing to build a second immigration detention center, awarding at least one contract for what’s labeled in state records as the “North Detention Facility,” the Associated Press reported.
The DeSantis administration has spent more than $200 million to build and oversee the detention center thus far, Axios reported.
The highly controversial facility has been a key part of the Trump administration’s push to increase deportations and create a “hostile environment” for undocumented migrants. Trump himself toured it with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DeSantis—with whom he has feuded—last month. The administration has also pledged similar facilities in other states, calling a planned one in Indiana the “Speedway Slammer.” That stunt backfired immediately, however, when a spokesperson for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway demanded that Noem’s department stop using its name on their mock-up of the facility.
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