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Officials must provide by Thursday all written agreements and
contracts showing who has legal custody of the hundreds of
detainees at the facility that was hastily constructed more than
a month ago on an isolated airstrip in South Florida's
Everglades wilderness, said U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, an
appointee of President Donald Trump.
Ruiz's order was part of an ongoing civil rights lawsuit against
the state and federal governments by immigration attorneys who
say “Alligator Alcatraz” detainees' constitutional rights are
being violated since they are barred from meeting lawyers, are
being held without any charges, and a federal immigration court
has canceled bond hearings.
Who has authority over the detention center has been a murky
issue since it opened at the beginning of July.
The federal government and Florida had asked that any
disclosures be limited to agreements between U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement and three Florida agencies — the Florida
Highway Patrol, the Florida National Guard and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement.
The detainees' attorneys had requested documents showing who was
responsible for removal proceedings, as well as information on
the number of employees at “Alligator Alcatraz,” but Ruiz said
those requests from the detainees' lawyers were too broad.
The lawsuit is the second to challenge “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Environmental groups have sued federal and state officials,
asking that the project be halted because the process didn’t
follow state and federal environmental laws. A hearing on that
lawsuit is set for Wednesday.
Separately, the Archdiocese of Miami said it celebrated the
first Mass at the detention center on Saturday following weeks
of negotiations.
“I am pleased that our request to provide for the pastoral care
of the detainees has been accommodated,” Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski said Monday in a statement.
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Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.
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