MIAMI — A Florida judge ruled Thursday to temporarily halt operations at "Alligator Alcatraz," the controversial migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, over a lawsuit alleging the site's construction skirted environmental laws.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams issued the temporary restraining order after two days of testimony in federal court in Miami.
Any new construction must be halted for the next 14 days, starting Thursday, she said in her ruling. The court will be on break until Tuesday.
Williams later clarified that the ruling halts activities, including “at the very least, filling, paving, installation of additional infrastructure,” and she said no additional lighting fixtures should be added.
The order will not have any impact on the detention center's activity regarding immigration policy enforcement, Williams said.
"Plaintiffs are not asking this court nor would this court enter an order that would stop immigration efforts," she added.
Environmental groups sued in June to stop the facility, which opened in July on an airstrip in the sensitive wetlands of Ochopee’s Big Cypress National Preserve, from operating.
The suit claimed that the center was built without mandatory ecological reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act and without public notice or comment and that the government failed to comply with other state and federal statutes, including the Endangered Species Act.
Williams had a heated exchange with defense attorneys for the state of Florida and the Trump administration over their clients' unwillingness to halt construction, which prompted the temporary restraining order.
“I don’t want to find out when I wake up on Monday that the site has been altered when this is going on. That should not be a concern,” Williams said in court. She made it clear that the plaintiffs were not trying to shut down the site, just halt any construction there, which she called a "reasonable request."
“If there’s going to be further construction, there’s going to be further hearing,” Williams said.
Environmental groups and Native Americans hotly protested the construction of the site — part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration — as the Everglades is a unique, marshy habitat home to endangered and threatened species.
Christopher McVoy, an Everglades expert, environmental scientist and board member of Friends of the Everglades — a nonprofit Everglades preservation organization nonprofit and one of the parties who filed the suit — testified that he visited the detention center site on June 28, when an incident commander showed him around and told him some areas were being paved.
McVoy described photos of the area since construction began and said, "You’re looking at 11 acres of new pavement." He also described an increase in traffic in the area.
Dillon Reio, a professional geologist in Florida who works for SCS Engineers providing assessments of development projects, said his assessment of the "Alligator Alcatraz" plans found it lacked "a cohesive stormwater plan for the site," warned that runoff can create contaminants and said, “There could be offsite impacts.”
On Wednesday, Eve Samples, the executive director of Friends of the Everglades, testified that more than 40,000 people submitted comments on its website to oppose the detention center.
Samples testified that the group is concerned about the potential impacts of runoff, the industrial-style lights that are visible from 15 miles away despite a dark sky designation and increased traffic.
"Driving out there myself many times, the increased traffic is visible. I saw two dead gators last time I visited, so definitely a difference in the area," she told the court.
Jessica Namath, daughter of former NFL star Joe Namath — who was in attendance — also testified Wednesday. Namath, also a member of Friends of the Everglades, said that the detention facility has created light pollution and that the area looks “heartbreakingly different.”
“Alligator Alcatraz” has faced other legal action over allegations of inhumane conditions and treatment of detainees.
Legal advocates and relatives of immigrant detainees described the conditions as horrific, including cage-like units, mosquito infestations and unsanitary conditions. NBC Miami has also reported on detainees’ and family members’ allegations of “inhumane conditions”: limited access to showers, spoiled food and extreme heat.
Civil rights lawyers last month sought a temporary restraining order against the facility, claiming constitutional rights violations, alleging that detainees have been prevented from meeting attorneys and are being held without charges.
