Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt 'Alligator Alcatraz' filed in wrong
court, Florida official says
[July 22, 2025]
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Florida's top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to
resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention
center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the middle of the Florida
Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction.
Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's
southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention
center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's
middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in
Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the
Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing.
“And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving
at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade,” Guthrie said.
Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the environmental groups, responded during
a virtual court hearing on Monday that the southern district was the
proper venue since “a substantial portion of the events” took place in
Miami-Dade County.
Later, in a statement, Schwiep called the state's concerns about the
jurisdiction “an obvious attempt at judge-shopping” since the
newly-assigned judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge
Kathleen Williams, had recently found Florida Attorney General James
Uthmeier in contempt for ignoring her orders in another case.
“The state had no objection to venue in the Southern District of Florida
until this case was reassigned to Judge Williams,” Schwiep said. "The
state of Florida commandeered the detention center site from Miami-Dade
County, the site is partially within Miami-Dade County, the county is a
defendant, and the case was appropriately filed in Miami-Dade County.”
Environmental groups filed the lawsuit against federal and state
officials in Florida's southern district last month, asking for the
project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida
Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and
federal environmental laws.
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A protester stands outside the migrant detention dubbed "Alligator
Alcatraz" at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility,
Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra
Rodriguez)
Williams scheduled a July 30 hearing to consider whether the lawsuit
was filed in the correct court. She also said during Monday's
hearing that she was going to hold off ruling on the environmental
groups' request for a temporary restraining order and temporary
injunction stopping the project until an Aug. 6 hearing in Miami.
The lawsuit was filed before the facility was opened to detainees,
and Schwiep estimated during Monday's hearing that 900 people have
been sent to “Alligator Alcatraz” in the past three weeks. Given
that pace, Schwiep said the environmental groups' goal wanted to
halt further construction and the movement of additional people to
the facility.
Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat
to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended it as
part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Donald
Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for
coming forward with the idea, as the department looks to
significantly expand its immigration detention capacity.
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