Alligator Alcatraz, judge
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A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration and Florida to effectively wind down operations at the immigrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz."
Judge Williams issued a preliminary injunction Aug. 21, saying the Trump administration should pack up Alligator Alcatraz and leave the Everglades.
Environmental groups that sued to halt the construction of Alligator Alcatraz say they are prepared to take their challenge all the way to the Supreme Court.
The answer could play a key role in a legal battle over the facility’s fate. And it has bigger implications, too.
In a letter sent late Tuesday to the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and FEMA, the lawmakers expressed concern that the Trump administration's decision to use what lawmakers called a "novel state-run immigration detention model" could violate federal law and make the federal government less accountable for the conditions at immigrant detention centers.
A month into his detention at Alligator Alcatraz, Daniel Ortiz Piñeda faced a stark choice: continue his legal fight for asylum or give it up to hopefully put an end to his extended stay at the makeshift immigration detention camp in the Everglades.
"Putting people in tents in the middle of the Everglades is a great tool to make them give up their cases," said one immigration attorney
A judge has dismissed part of a lawsuit from immigrant advocates after finding many of the migrants held at "Alligator Alcatraz" have received access to legal counsel.