Civil rights lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades say that "Alligator Alcatraz" detainees have been barred from meeting attorneys, are being held without any charges and that a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings.
The immigration attorneys argued Monday during a virtual hearing that the detainees' constitutional rights were being violated and that 100 detainees already had been deported from "Alligator Alcatraz."
Lawyers who have shown up for bond hearings for "Alligator Alcatraz" detainees have been told that the immigration court doesn't have jurisdiction over their clients, and the civil rights attorneys demanded that federal and state officials identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detainees so it can start accepting petitions for bond.
"This is an emergency situation," Eunice Cho, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, said during the hearing in federal court in Miami. "Officers at 'Alligator Alcatraz' are going around trying to force people to sign deportation orders without the ability to speak to counsel."
But Nicholas Meros, an attorney representing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the situation had evolved since the civil rights groups' lawsuit was filed July 16. Video-conference rooms had been set up so detainees can talk to attorneys, and in-person meetings between detainees and attorneys had started.
"There have been a number of facts that have changed," Meros said during Monday's hearing
U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, an appointee of President Donald Trump, didn't make an immediate ruling. He asked the civil rights attorneys to refile their complaint to consolidate their pleadings as a request for a preliminary injunction, and he set a briefing schedule that will end with an in-person court hearing on Aug. 18.
The judge warned that his role was to provide relief to any proven constitutional violations and said that "attempts to transform the court into the warden of 'Alligator Alcatraz' is not going to happen here." The judge also allowed the civil rights groups to argue for the release of any agreements between the federal and state governments showing who has authority over the detention center, a murky issue since it opened a month ago.
"And that's part of the problem — who is doing what in this facility?" Ruiz said.
The lawsuit is the second one challenging "Alligator Alcatraz." Environmental groups last month sued federal and state officials asking that the project built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws.
Attorneys for the state of Florida have argued in both cases that the federal court's southern district in Florida was the wrong venue since the airstrip is located in neighboring Collier County, which is a part of the middle district, even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County. A hearing over whether the southern district venue is proper in the environmental case is set for Wednesday.
Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to detainees, while 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.
