TALLAHASSEE — Siding with environmental groups, a U.S. district judge on Thursday temporarily blocked state and federal officials from further expansion of an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades.
Judge Kathleen Williams’ temporary restraining order put on hold for two weeks additional construction or infrastructure, paving or installation of new lighting at the remote facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” according to groups challenging the site.
The Miami-based Williams issued a verbal ruling during a hearing Thursday in the lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, which allege that state and federal officials did not comply with a law requiring that an environmental-impact study be performed before developing the facility. The Miccosukee Tribe also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
State officials this summer quickly erected the detention center as part of the DeSantis administration’s efforts to support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. The site has a capacity of 3,000 people and could be built out to house up to 4,000 detainees.
The two-week temporary restraining order will halt additional construction as litigation over the environmental groups’ request for a preliminary injunction proceeds.
“It’s a relief that the court has stepped in to protect the Everglades’ sensitive waters, starry skies and vulnerable creatures from further harm while we continue our case,” Elise Bennett, an attorney and Florida and Caribbean director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “We’re ready to press forward and put a stop to this despicable plan for good.”
Talbert Cypress, chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, also praised Williams’ order to pause construction on the “deeply concerning project,” which is adjacent to some of the tribe’s villages in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
“The detention facility threatens land that is not only environmentally sensitive but sacred to our people. While this order is temporary, it is an important step in asserting our rights and protecting our homeland. The Miccosukee Tribe will continue to stand for our culture, our sovereignty, and the Everglades,” Cypress said in the statement.
Also on Thursday, wrangling continued in a separate lawsuit filed by immigration-law groups and attorneys representing detainees who allege that people held at the facility are being denied access to legal representation. Plaintiffs are seeking class-action status in the lawsuit and are asking U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz for a preliminary injunction.
Attorneys for DeSantis urged Ruiz to reject the request, arguing in documents filed Thursday that detainees now are able to meet privately with their lawyers virtually and in-person.
The governor’s lawyers attributed delays in the meetings to the rapid construction of the complex, which was built adjacent to an airstrip known as Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport under an executive order initially issued by DeSantis in 2023 declaring a state of emergency because of illegal immigration.
“It took longer than expected for contractors to build the necessary infrastructure and install the equipment to schedule and facilitate these meetings. As a result, facility staff did not obtain access to the facility’s legal inbox used to coordinate and schedule meetings between detainees and their counsel until July 10, 2025,” Thursday’s document said.
The state attempted the first videoconferences for detainees and their attorneys on July 12 and the first successful videoconference took place on July 15, while in-person meetings began on July 28, according to the document.
The state anticipates that the number of requests for videoconferences and in-person meetings will increase as the number of detainees at the facility increases, the state’s lawyers said. Newly constructed additional space for “confidential meetings” between detainees and their lawyers opened on Thursday.
In addition, “the facility continues to construct additional space to ensure the necessary capacity to hold all requested videoconference and in-person meetings as the number of detainees grows,” the state’s lawyers wrote.
It was not immediately clear how Williams' order Thursday would affect the expansion of space for legal representation
State officials “are also working diligently to establish postal service for detainees to correspond with their counsel” and are using a courier service to allow lawyers to deliver confidential documents to detainees, according to lawyers for the DeSantis administration.
“Facility staff inspect the documents for contraband, pursuant to the facility’s visitation form, but do not inspect their contents,” the lawyers said.
All of the plaintiffs who requested meetings “have received at least one, or have one scheduled,” the state’s lawyers argued. Those that have not received meetings have not requested them, the lawyers added.
“Any delays the facility experienced were inherent to standing up a detention facility in a short time period in response to a declared state of emergency. But they are not grounds for a preliminary injunction – especially a mandatory injunction – after the issues have been resolved and the meetings are occurring,” the state’s lawyers wrote.
DeSantis’ attorneys also are continuing to argue that the lawsuit, which was filed in the federal Southern District of Florida, should be moved. Miami-Dade County is in the Southern District of Florida. The address of the detention center is in Ochopee, an unincorporated community in Collier County, which is in the Middle District of Florida.
Every request by detainees to meet with an attorney “and every meeting itself -– the underlying facts in this case -– takes place in Collier County,” the state's lawyers argued.
“There is a tiny sliver of the airport’s unpaved runway that lies in Miami-Dade County, but no portion of the detention facility is situated there and no attorney meetings or other detention activities would occur there,” the lawyers wrote.
