ORLANDO, Florida. — Federal and state officials withheld evidence that the Department of Homeland Security agreed to reimburse Florida for some construction costs. immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” according to environmental groups suing to close the site.
The Everglades facility remains open and still housing detainees as an appeals court in early September relied on arguments from Florida and the Trump administration that the state had not yet applied for federal reimbursement and therefore was not required to comply with federal environmental law.
The new evidence — emails and documents obtained through a public records request — shows that officials discussed federal reimbursement in June, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed in early August that it had received a grant application from state officials. In late September, Florida was notified that FEMA had approved $608 million in federal funding to support construction and operation of the center.
“We now know that the federal and state governments had records showing they were working closely together on this site from the beginning, but did not tell the district court,” said Tania Galloni, one of the environmental groups' attorneys.
An appeals panel in Atlanta has temporarily stayed a lower court judge's decision to close the government-built facility. Now new evidence must be reviewed as judges decide the site's final fate, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity said in court papers Wednesday.
Federal judge in Miami in mid-August. ordered an object shut down operations for two months because officials failed to review the detention center's environmental impact in accordance with federal law. The judge concluded that the decision on compensation had already been made.
The Florida Department of Emergency Management, which oversaw construction of the Everglades facility, did not respond to an emailed request Thursday.
Florida has led other states in building facilities to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration. In addition to the Everglades facility, which received the first detainees in JulyFlorida has opened an immigration detention center in Northeast Florida and is considering opening a third center in the Florida Panhandle.
The environmental lawsuit is one of three federal court challenges to the Everglades site. In others, detainees said Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state do not have the authority to operate the center under federal law. They also seek a solution to ensure access to confidential messages with your lawyers.
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