Judge to weigh detainees' legal rights at 'Alligator Alcatraz' in
Florida Everglades
[August 18, 2025]
By DAVID FISCHER and MIKE SCHNEIDER
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments Monday over whether
detainees at a temporary immigrant detention center in the Florida
Everglades have been denied their legal rights.
In the second of two lawsuits challenging practices at the facility
known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” civil rights attorneys are seeking a
preliminary injunction to ensure that detainees at the facility have
confidential access to their lawyers, which they say hasn’t happened.
Florida officials dispute that claim.
The civil rights attorneys also want U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to
identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detention
center so that petitions can be filed for the detainees' bond or
release. The attorneys say that hearings for their cases have been
routinely canceled in federal Florida immigration courts by judges who
say they don’t have jurisdiction over the detainees held in the
Everglades.
“The situation at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is so anomalous from what is
typically granted at other immigration facilities,” Eunice Cho, an
attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, said
Thursday during a virtual meeting to prepare for Monday's hearing in
Miami.
But before delving into the core issues of the detainees’ rights, Ruiz
has said he wants to hear about whether the lawsuit was filed in the
proper jurisdiction in Miami. The state and federal government
defendants have argued that even though the isolated airstrip where the
facility was built is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern
district is the wrong venue since the detention center is located in
neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district.
The judge has hinted that some issues may pertain to one district and
other issues to the other district, but said he would decide after
Monday's hearing.
“I think we should all be prepared that, before we get into any real
argument about preliminary injunctive relief, that we at least spend
some time working through the venue issues,” Ruiz said Thursday.
The hearing over legal access comes as another federal judge in Miami
considers whether construction and operations at the facility should be
halted indefinitely because federal environmental rules weren't
followed. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Aug. 7 ordered a
14-day halt on additional construction at the site while witnesses
testified at a hearing that wrapped up last week. She has said she plans
to issue a ruling before the order expires later this week.
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Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that his
administration was preparing to open a second immigration detention
facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison in north
Florida. DeSantis justified building the second detention center by
saying President Donald Trump’s administration needs the additional
capacity to hold and deport more immigrants.
The state of Florida has disputed claims that “Alligator Alcatraz”
detainees have been unable to meet with their attorneys. The state's
lawyers said that since July 15, when videoconferencing started at
the facility, the state has granted every request for a detainee to
meet with an attorney, and in-person meetings started July 28. The
first detainees arrived at the beginning of July.
But the civil rights attorneys said that even if lawyers have been
scheduled to meet with their clients at the detention center, it
hasn't been in private or confidential, and it is more restrictive
than at other immigration detention facilities. They said scheduling
delays and an unreasonable advanced notice requirement have hindered
their ability to meet with the detainees, thereby violating their
constitutional rights.
Civil rights attorneys said officers are going cell-to-cell to
pressure detainees into signing voluntary removal orders before
they’re allowed to consult their attorneys, and some detainees have
been deported even though they didn't have final removal orders.
Along with the spread of a respiratory infection and rainwater
flooding their tents, the circumstances have fueled a feeling of
desperation among detainees, the attorneys wrote in a court filing.
“One intellectually disabled detainee was told to sign a paper in
exchange for a blanket, but was then deported subject to voluntary
removal after he signed, without the ability to speak to his
counsel,” the filing said.
The judge has promised a quick decision once the hearing is done.
___
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