Siding with DeSantis, federal court greenlights Everglades detention site

Siding with Gov. Ron DeSantis, a federal appeals court decided Thursday that “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, will not shut down.

The 2-to-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed federal judge Kathleen Williams’ order to the state to stop bringing people to the site and to dismantle much of it by September’s end. The higher court’s decision came just two weeks after Williams handed down her preliminary injunction.

“Florida will undoubtedly be harmed if it cannot ‘apply its own laws’ to respond to an immigration crisis,” Judge Barbara Lagoa, appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote in the 33-page order.

“Given that the federal government has an undisputed and wide-reaching interest in combatting illegal immigration, and that illegal immigration is a matter of national security and public safety, we think the injunction issued below goes against the public interest.”

Lagoa, alongside Trump-appointee Judge Elizabeth Branch, pointed to a new Florida law mandating full participation with federal immigration authorities, and noted that the site has not received any federal funding. This means that federal environmental acts don’t apply, nullifying the plaintiffs’ arguments, they argued.

“The Florida-funded and Florida-operated detention activities occurring at the Site do not conceive a ‘major federal project,’” Lagoa wrote, seemingly contradicting DeSantis’s repeated assurances that the federal government will reimburse Florida for Alligator Alcatraz’s estimated $450 million price tag.

She remarked that promises of federal money to reimburse the state don’t equate to actually receiving the reimbursements.

The Eleventh Circuit’s ruling comes less than two months after environmental groups sued to close the site, fearing destruction to unique habitats and endangered species. These organizations, which include the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades, had declared victory after Williams’ Aug. 22 preliminary injunction. The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida was another plaintiff.

Now, they say, the fight is not over.

“The 11th Circuit’s order only pauses the district court’s injunction, and I’m confident we will ultimately prevail in defending the heart of Florida from this brutal and destructive facility,” said Elise Bennet, Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity. She called the ruling “heartbreaking” but vowed to continue to appeal.

Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, agreed they are “committed to fighting on.”

Judge Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee, wrote the sole dissenting opinion, arguing the majority “ignores the burden borne by the defendants” and wholly disregards the lower court’s authority.

“If this trend continues, the bench and bar will be forgiven for thinking that a district court’s factual findings are only inconvenient speed bumps on the road to reversal,” he warned.

The lawsuit against the state is just one of many that emerged as the facility was quickly created. Florida Democratic lawmakers and the ACLU of Florida have both filed separate suits demanding access to the center and alleging human rights violations.

These suits came as Florida pushed to align with President Donald Trump’s anti-unauthorized immigration agenda.

The GOP-dominated Legislature passed a hefty package during its 2025 session revoking in-state tuition for undocumented college students, requiring counties to partner with federal immigration authorities, and mandating the death penalty for migrants illegally in the state convicted of capital crimes.