Lawsuit to halt Alligator Alcatraz filed in wrong court, Florida's top emergency manager says
Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing.
"And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade," Guthrie said.
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Florida's southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. A virtual hearing was being held Monday on the lawsuit.
Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other 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.
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Judge limits Trump's ability to deport Abrego Garcia after lengthy court battle
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The plans, which Xinis ascertained over the course of a multi-day evidentiary hearing earlier this month, capped an exhausting, 19-week legal saga in the case of Abrego Garcia that spanned two continents, multiple federal courts, including the Supreme Court, and inspired countless hours of news coverage. Still, it ultimately yielded little in the way of new answers, and Xinis likened the process to "nailing Jell-O to a wall," and "beating a frustrated and dead horse," among other things. "We operate as government of laws," she scolded lawyers for the Trump administration in one of many terse exchanges. "We don't operate as a government of 'take my word for it.'" 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