Protecting the Everglades from a Massive Detention Center
The detention center plan has gone through no environmental review as required under federal law, and the public has had no opportunity to comment. The Everglades is the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere.
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Case Overview
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity sued in U.S. District Court to protect the Florida Everglades from a reckless plan for a massive detention center to confine people who are rounded up in immigration raids.
The suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and Miami-Dade County.
Despite the plan going through no environmental review as required under federal law, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has plowed ahead with developing the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, roughly two hours west of Miami, and one hour east of Naples, in hopes of detaining up to 5,000 people there.
The Everglades is the largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie and the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America. In 2010, it was designated as an endangered UNESCO World Heritage site.
Friends of the Everglades is represented by Earthjustice and attorneys Scott Hiaasen and Paul Schwiep.
Case Updates
Case page created on June 27, 2025.