Alligator Alcatraz

3 proceedings tracked · Active

In mid-2025 Florida and the federal government built an immigration detention facility deep in the Everglades, on a site that is roughly 96% wetlands next to Big Cypress National Preserve. Officials nicknamed it "Alligator Alcatraz." The facility drew two very different kinds of lawsuit at almost the same moment, and they are worth keeping apart. One is an environmental challenge over whether a detention camp could be built there at all without the review federal law requires. The other is a civil-rights challenge brought by people held inside it, over access to counsel and conditions of confinement. The detainee case has been litigated under two docket numbers, because it was transferred from the Southern District of Florida to the Middle District in August 2025.

Environmental Review

Friends of the Everglades, Inc. v. Noem

1:25-cv-22896 · S.D. Fla. · 2025-06-27

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity challenged the construction and operation of the detention facility as agency action taken without the environmental review federal law requires. Judge Kathleen M. Williams granted a preliminary injunction, and the government took an interlocutory appeal. On July 8, 2026 the Eleventh Circuit issued its mandate: it VACATED the preliminary injunction and REMANDED for further proceedings, and taxed $2,085.75 in costs against the plaintiffs. The case is now back before Judge Williams, where plaintiffs have moved for a status conference. The underlying claims have not been decided.

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Detainee Rights

C.M. v. Noem (original filing)

1:25-cv-23182 · S.D. Fla. · 2025-07-16

Detainees held at the Everglades facility, represented by counsel including the ACLU, sued over access to counsel and conditions of confinement. Named plaintiffs and organizational plaintiffs included C.M., Michael Borrego Fernandez, Sanctuary of the South, and several immigration law practices. Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II held a status conference on August 14, 2025 and a preliminary injunction hearing on August 18, 2025. The case was then transferred out of the district: the docket was terminated August 18, 2025 and reopened in the Middle District of Florida on August 20, 2025. This docket is closed only because of that transfer, not because the claims were resolved.

Closed

Detainee Rights

H.C.R. v. Noem (transferred continuation)

2:25-cv-00747 · M.D. Fla. · 2025-07-16

The same lawsuit, continuing under a new docket number and a new lead-plaintiff caption after transfer from the Southern District. The Middle District docket opened August 20, 2025, and its first entry is the original complaint dated July 16, 2025, marked as transferred. It is assigned to Judge Sheri Polster Chappell. This is the live proceeding on the detainee claims. Defendants named across the case include Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE, DHS, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Governor Ron DeSantis, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

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