Aug. 28 (UPI) — The Trump administration is winding down operations at its Florida Everglades detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” per a court order, with all detainees to be removed within days, according to reports.
Florida Division of Emergency Management head Kevin Guthrie wrote in a Friday email obtained by both The New York Times and ABC News, but reported on Wednesday, that the South Florida Detention Facility in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee will probably “be down to 0 individuals within a few days.”
The news organizations reported that the email was sent in response to interfaith leaders who had asked to minister to the facility’s detainees.
It’s unclear exactly how many detainees are held — and were held — at the detention facility rapidly constructed at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport compound.
President Donald Trump has been channeling funds to expanded immigration detention capabilities nationwide as part of his pledge to mass deport immigrants, with several Republican-led states entering partnerships with the federal government to construct them.
Alligator Alcatraz opened July 1 and was met with Democratic opposition and lawsuits.
On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration and the state of Florida to essentially wind down operations at the facility within 60 days. No new detainees were allowed to be transferred to the site and much of it was ordered to be dismantled.
In her ruling, Judge Kathleen Williams sided with environmental groups who accused the state and federal governments of violating environmental protection laws, as no environmental review was performed before they started erecting the facility.
“There weren’t ‘deficiencies’ in the agency’s process. There was no process. The defendants consulted no stakeholders or experts and did no evaluation of the environmental risks and alternatives from which the court may glean the likelihood that the agency would choose the same course if it had done a NEPA-compliant evaluation,” she wrote in her order, referring to the National Environmental Policy Act.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has appealed the ruling.
Earlier this month, DeSantis, a Republican and a Trump ally, announced plans to open another detention facility, this one called “Deportation Depot.” It is to be housed in a shuttered state prison in North Florida.