‘Who’s running the show?’ is a key question in ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ challenge

MIAMI — A lawsuit brought by environmental groups and the Miccosukee tribe challenging construction and operations of an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades wrapped up Wednesday with several key questions unanswered.

At the top of the list is one U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams asked several times during the four-day hearing, “Who’s running the show?” at the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz.”

During the hearing, lawyers for two environmental groups cited comments made by Trump administration officials in interviews and social media posts that it’s an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. In court, lawyers for Florida maintained it’s a state detention center operating under ICE authority but couldn’t tell the judge who actually is in charge at the site.

While immigration detentions and other operations at the facility will continue as the legal process moves ahead, the question of who is in charge at the center is important.

The environmental groups, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed the lawsuit and were joined by the Miccosukee tribe, which has traditional use and access to the area. The three plaintiffs say the rushed construction without public input or an environmental impact assessment violate federal law and they’re asking the judge to shut it down.

At issue is NEPA — the National Environmental Policy Act — which requires federal agencies to consider alternatives, engage the public and assess the environmental impact before proceeding with a project. Lawyers for Florida and the Trump administration told the court that federal law doesn’t apply because the facility was built and is operated by the state.

“This case boils down to control,” Justice Department lawyer Adam Gustafson said. And at the site, he said, “The federal government has no action or power to control the activity.”

Paul Schweip, an attorney with Friends of the Everglades, said Florida and the Trump administration were deliberately keeping the question of who controlled the site vague. The detention center he said, “serves one single function and this is immigration detention which as a matter of law is a federal authority.”

The facility, which has tents and caged cells for up to 5,000 immigration detainees, is housed at a rarely used and mostly abandoned airfield located within the wetlands of the Big Cypress National Preserve.

During the hearing, lawyers for the environmental groups presented testimony detailing the impact the increased activity and population at the site is having on protected species and the area’s water quality.

Randy Kautz, a wildlife ecologist who helped write the state’s Panther Recovery plan, said because of the bright lights, increased traffic and human presence at the site, Florida panthers would be pushed out of at least 2,000 acres of their habitat. There are only an estimated 120 to 230 endangered panthers remaining in Florida.

Wetlands ecologist Christopher McVoy, who helped write the plan to restore the Everglades, raised concerns with the court about 20 acres of new asphalt paving on the site and the impact it will have on water quality in the fragile ecosystem. The Everglades ecosystem has a very low level of nitrates and phosphates, nutrients that promote plant growth, said McVoy. Runoff containing nutrients and pollutants, he said, would have a “drastic impact” on native vegetation and nearby wetlands.

Employees of the Miccosukee tribe testified on the impact the increased activity at the site is having on people who live in tribal villages, several of which are located within a few miles of the facility. They said runoff from the site typically travels south toward the villages and is likely to contain contaminants that may harm the environment and human health. And they raised concerns about the impact bright lights at the facility are having on another endangered species, the bonneted bat.

The groups and the tribe are asking Judge Williams to issue a preliminary injunction that would require the state and federal government to remove lighting, fencing and waste from the site, restore access for members of the Miccosukee and to wind down operations there within 14 days.

The judge issued a two-week temporary restraining order Aug. 7 on new construction at the facility. She said she would rule on the request for a preliminary injunction before that order expires.