Judge Orders Shutdown of Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Camp

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Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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A federal judge has halted Florida’s controversial immigration detention camp in the middle of the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Judge Kathleen M. Williams ordered the state to wind down operations within 60 days, saying Florida rushed construction without considering alternatives and ignored decades of environmental protections.

President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and others, tour “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The facility, visited by President Donald Trump last month, was designed to hold up to 3,000 people but already faces allegations of inhumane conditions, overflowing toilets, worms in food and detainees going days without medicine or showers.

Environmental groups and the Muscogee tribe called the ruling a landmark victory for the Everglades and a warning that even governors must respect federal law.

Florida has already filed an appeal, while Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, brushed off the ruling, saying, “The deportations will continue until morale improves.”


Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.

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