Federal judge denies request to close Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday denied a request for a preliminary injunction to close an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” saying a detainee who asked for the order hadn’t shown he was suffering irreparable harm at the facility.

U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek said the detainee, known as M.A. in court papers, hadn’t met the high burden required for a preliminary injunction while his challenge to the facility is litigated in federal court in Fort Myers, Florida.

“While there may indeed be deficiencies at Alligator Alcatraz that ultimately justify its dissolution, plaintiff has not made the extraordinary showing needed to justify immediate relief of such magnitude,” said Dudek, who was nominated by President Donald Trump.

M.A.’s lawsuit is one of three federal lawsuits challenging practices at the immigration detention center that was built this summer at a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades by the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

His lawsuit claims immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility under federal law. Detainees who enter the facility disappear from the normal detainee tracking system and have difficulty accessing legal help, the lawsuit said.

“The statute requires federal control over all delegated enforcement activities. Yet Florida asserts that it has total control over detention decisions,” M.A. said in his request for a preliminary injunction.

The judge said he was proceeding with caution in denying the request since “plaintiff is essentially asking this court to close a sizable and expensive detention facility, all before any decision on the merits of its legality.”

In a separate case, a federal judge in Miami last summer ordered the facility to wind down operations over two months because officials had failed to do a review of the detention center’s environmental impact. But an appellate court panel put that decision on hold for the time being, allowing the facility to stay open.

In the third lawsuit, detainees were seeking a ruling that would ensure that they have access to confidential communications with their attorneys. They claimed that detainees’ attorneys had to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other detention facilities where the lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees often were transferred to other facilities after their attorneys had made an appointment to see them; and that scheduling delays had been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.

A federal judge in that case ordered the detainees’ lawyers and attorneys for the state and federal government defendants to meet Tuesday in an effort to resolve the case. But they notified the court on Wednesday they were unable to reach a resolution despite nine hours of talks.

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