A Florida Highway Patrol car guards the entrance to the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center Monday, May 11, 2026, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
A car drives near the entrance to the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center Monday, May 11, 2026, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Environmental groups say that the timing of the expected closure of an immigration detention center in the middle of the Florida Everglades, likely in the next month or two, is no accident because it will come as their lawsuit challenging its existence returns to a federal judge who had previously ordered it shut down.
A federal appellate court decided last month to keep open the detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” for the time being, blocking a lower court decision ordering it to wind down operations. But the case was sent back to the lower court judge who now gets jurisdiction over the lawsuit as the litigation over the facility’s fate continues.
“Knowing that the same district judge who previously enjoined the operation would soon reassume oversight -- the defendants are now effectively waving the white flag,” said Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the environmental groups that had sued, saying the facility’s construction hadn’t undergone a required environmental review.
