One of the most heinous things Donald Trump has done this year is open up “Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigrant detention center in Florida. The “Alligator Alcatraz” moniker was given by Trump’s people, and it’s intended as a threat for immigrants, that they will be “alligator-bait” if they’re caught/detained by authorities. It’s very much a concentration camp in a Florida swamp, with inhumane conditions across the board. Well, surprising news? A federal judge just ordered the government to shut the whole thing down. Not under Eighth Amendment grounds, but for environmental grounds. These dumbasses built a concentration camp on protected Everglades wetlands.
A federal judge in Miami gave the state of Florida 60 days to clear out the immigrant detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz, handing environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians a win after they clashed with Gov. Ron DeSantis over the environmental impacts the makeshift site was having in the federally protected Everglades.
The ruling late Thursday from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, which forbids state officials from moving any other migrants there, deals a blow to what had become a marquee symbol of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
In July, he and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem toured the facility of trailers and tents, erected with chain-link fencing atop an old airstrip and intended for what Trump described as the “most vicious” migrants. By detaining them there, “we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator,” he said. “We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation.”
But it was the location the state chose that plagued the facility from the start, according to critics. In her ruling, Williams said an environmental assessment was required before the site was erected in the Everglades, but “the Defendants chose not to do so.”
Despite what DeSantis described as a facility that would have “zero” impact on the surrounding wetlands and native species, Williams cited experts who testified and said the project will have “considerable environmental impacts” and would have required review by relevant federal agencies.”
The order expands the pause on new construction that Williams set in a temporary restraining order two weeks ago and directs the state and federal governments and contractors to begin dismantling the center, including fencing, lighting, generators and all waste receptacles “that were installed to support this project.”
Do we think this judge’s order will hold? Or will the Trump administration’s busy little fascist bees find a work-around? I have no idea. I get the feeling that despite the racist, authoritarian branding and all of those asinine promises, the administration is already sort of bored with Alligator Alcatraz. It’s a money pit, an environmental disaster, a humanitarian disaster, and it’s a pain in the ass to maintain. Maybe they’ll just use this as an excuse to quietly fold. Fingers crossed.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
