Construction At 'Alligator Alcatraz' Suspended Over Environmental Concerns

A federal judge in Miami has ordered construction halted at the migrant detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" over environmental concerns.

Concretely, District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a temporary restraining order blocking the construction of additional paving, tall lighting, filling, excavating or fencing at the camp.

She upheld a request by the Miccosukee Tribe and two environmental groups, who requested operations be paralyzed until an environmental review is conducted.

Experts claimed at the hearing that further construction at the center could be detrimental to the area, driving away wildlife and adding possible carcinogens.

Plaintiffs also argued that operations are endangering the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Big Cypress Area, considered ecologically sensitive and protected. They hold threatened species including the Everglade snail kite, the Florida panther, wood stork and the Florida bonneted bat.

"The hasty transformation of the Site into a mass detention facility, which includes the installation of housing units, construction of sanitation and food services systems, industrial high-intensity lighting infrastructure, diesel power generators, substantial fill material altering the natural terrain, and provision of transportation logistics (including apparent planned use of the runway to receive and deport detainees) poses clear environmental impacts," reads a passage of the lawsuit filed by the Miccosukee triube.

Florida Department of Emergency Management executive director Kevin Guthrie, named as a defendant in the case, said the state is not subjected to the required regulations. He added that the environmental impact is low because the location was already an active airfield.

Advocates are also calling for the facility to be shut down as they decry "unlivable" conditions that include mosquitoe-ridden units and lights being on all the time.

"Detention conditions are unlivable," Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a press conference in late July, as reported by NBC News.