Whether the feds control “Alligator Alcatraz” could decide whether environmental groups’ legal case continues. (Photo via Florida Division of Emergency Management X account)
Proving that the federal government controls the Everglades immigrant detention camp the state calls “Alligator Alcatraz” could be key to whether environmental groups’ case to shutter the facility survives, a chief appellate judge indicated Tuesday.
The question sets up an interesting dynamic: If the migrant lockup is at the beck and call of federal authorities, then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit may allow the pro-environment organizations’ case against the Department of Homeland Security to continue.
But if it’s not, and Florida officials retain most — if not all — of the power over the center, the case could fall dead in the Miami courtroom.
Chief Judge William Pryor appeared deeply skeptical of the environmental lawyers’ argument that the federal government is the primary caretaker of the facility.
“They are doing [the site] because they choose to, right?” Pryor asked Tuesday, referring to Florida leaders. This marked just one of many rhetorical questions he fired off at lawyers for the state, the federal government, and the environmental groups during oral arguments on the 12th Floor of the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building.
“If they can stop [operating], then there’s not federal control,” the George W. Bush appointee continued, hypothesizing that Gov. Ron DeSantis next week could turn the center into a helicopter trainee base without running into federal problems.
Later, while debating with a Justice Department attorney over whether a future court venue should be changed, Pryor mused, “If there’s no federal control, then that’s fatal to their claim right? Why would I wanna talk about [venue]?”
How did it get here?
Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Miccosukee Tribe have been locked in a months-long legal battle with state and federal leaders over whether the facility is subject to federal environmental laws.
Concerned about damage to the Everglades, the environmentalists pointed out that a federal environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act hasn’t been completed. They noted that the center couldn’t have been created without federal approval because immigration is an exclusively federal power.
But attorneys for DHS and the Florida Division of Emergency Management argued there’s no need to check the federal environmental boxes because the center is entirely state-run.
They claimed the center would need both federal funding and final federal say — of which it now has neither.
“It does not trigger a NEPA decision,” said Adam Gustafson, DOJ’s principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The [feds] supervise. It’s the state that’s responsible for managing day-to-day operations.”
The legal history of the case is complex. In September, a federal district judge sided with the environmental groups and ordered the site shut down. But a three-judge panel in the Eleventh Circuit — different from Tuesday’s three-judge grouping — reversed course a month later, halting the lower judge’s order.
The environmentalists hope Tuesday’s judges will drop that pause. Aside from Pryor, they were Biden-appointee Judge Nancy Abudu and Trump appointee Andrew Brasher.
“We are very eager to get back to our trial in the district court to demonstrate [environmental] harm,” Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve Samples told reporters after the arguments.
Questions about federal funding — another factor that could signal federal control — also remain unresolved.
Federal authorities tied up a $608 million reimbursement grant for months because a federal environmental review hadn’t been completed. It wouldn’t be until March — seven months after the site opened — that they lifted all grant holds.
Florida, meanwhile, still hasn’t been reimbursed. Construction costs are not reimbursable.
“Any funding here would not be for construction,” Gustafson said. “It would be per detainee.”