We’re Fighting to Protect the Everglades from Florida’s Illegal Detention Center

What happened: : Our attorneys are in court this week for arguments against the illegal immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Why it matters: In partnership with federal agencies, Florida hastily built the detention center in 2025 in the heart of the Everglades, without conducting an environmental review.

The state and federal agencies have argued that there was no federal involvement — including no federal funding — and therefore no need to follow federal environmental laws. Yet new records obtained in our related public records lawsuit confirm that the Trump administration committed to federally fund the detention center from the start.

Earthjustice and our partners have defended the Everglades’ renowned wetland ecosystem, and its endangered inhabitants, for decades. We will continue to fight against this harmful and illegal facility.

How we got here

• The detention center: In June 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced a partnership to build an immigration detention center in the Everglades as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan.
• Groups fight back: Friends of the Everglades, represented by Earthjustice and private attorneys, along with Center for Biological Diversity, sued the administration and the Florida Division of Emergency Management for failing to undertake any environmental review for the facility, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Miccosukee Tribe joined the case against the detention center.
• New information comes to light: Earlier this year, Earthjustice and our partners won a court order after Florida illegally withheld documents about the federal government’s funding of the detention center. In January and February, the state handed over documents confirming that state and federal agencies had been working out the details for $608.4 million in federal funding before construction began.
• Controversial history: The detention site was once the center of a national battle over a proposed gargantuan jetport in the 1960s. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the renowned reporter turned environmental activist, founded Friends of the Everglades to fight that jetport. Their fight became a catalyst for the creation of NEPA in 1970.

Earthjustice Managing Attorney Tania Galloni, left, and Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve Samples, right, stand outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse after a hearing in the Everglades Detention Center case (Photo by Saul Martinez for Earthjustice)

The Everglades are the lifeblood of Florida

• The facility’s operations are harmful to the surrounding wetlands, having brought new paving, increased vehicular traffic, intensified human activity, and high-intensity lighting 24/7 that can be seen 15 miles away. Floodlights are especially damaging as the preserve is an internationally recognized Dark Sky Park, with one of the darkest night skies in the eastern United States.
• A shelter for wildlife: The detention center is surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, a federally protected, ecologically sensitive area that is a haven to Florida’s endangered species, including the Florida panther, wood stork, and bonneted bat. Florida panthers have been documented on the very site where the detention center now sits.
• Unlike other national parks that are removed from urban areas, the Everglades are a short drive from Miami. Federal protections preserve the Everglades as both a biodiverse ecosystem and an accessible, world-renowned refuge for recreationalists.
• “I grew up in an urban part of Miami,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “When I drive west, my breathing slows down. It’s a mystical experience to wade through the cypress domes and walk the limestone bottoms. People who frequent Big Cypress know that and cherish that.”

What happens now

• Back in court: As we head into court for oral arguments, our goal is to reinstate the preliminary injunction that a federal judge granted in August. That injunction put a stop to irreparable environmental damage and required a wind-down of operations at the facility pending the litigation.  The court of appeals, however, paused the injunction, allowing operations to resume pending this appeal. 
• Earthjustice is committed to fighting for this world-renowned ecosystem. Florida’s Everglades are no place for a cruel detention center. Join us and tell the Trump administration that they are not above the law.