Appeals Court: Alligator Alcatraz Can Remain Open

Just shy of two weeks ago a Miami judge issued an order that would effectively shut down the immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams entered a preliminary injunction to prevent the installation of any additional industrial-style lighting and any site expansion. Her ruling further prevents “bringing any additional persons … who were not already being detained at the site at the time of this order.”…

Within 60 days, “and once the population attrition allows for safe implementation of this Order,” the facility must also remove “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project,” the 82-page ruling said.

Obviously, you can’t have a functional detention center with no generators or sewage so the order basically meant the state had 60 days to shut everything down within 60 days.

There were already reports that the site had been mostly emptied out. From a high of around 1,000 detainees, the number had dropped to just over 300 and was still declining quickly. I was worried at the time that, because of the remote location in the midst of the Everglades near an Indian tribe reservation, the environmental arguments used to shut it down were likely to prevail. But today, an appeals court reversed the lower court ruling. For now the site can remain open.

On Thursday, the Eleventh US Circuit Court of Appeals granted requests from the State of Florida and the US Department of Homeland Security to stay a district court’s preliminary injunction that would have forced the site to wind down operations within 60 days. A preliminary injunction is a temporary order put in place until a court can make a final decision in a case.

“After careful consideration, we grant the defendants’ motions and we stay the preliminary injunction and the underlying case itself pending appeal,” ruled the three appellate judges in the order.

The appeals court found Judge Williams was in error when she concluded the site was subject to federal environmental review.

The ruling was a victory for Florida, which pushed the boundaries of traditional immigration enforcement when it opened the facility in July. It became the first state to run an immigrant detention center — normally a federal role. Other states have announced plans to house federal immigration detainees in state-owned facilities.

The ruling was also significant for the Department of Homeland Security, which had argued in court that it was not running the Everglades detention center.

In granting the stay, the appeals court found that the lower court had misinterpreted a federal law requiring a review of potential environmental harms before building a major project. It found that because the Everglades detention center had so far been entirely funded by Florida, and because the state operated the center, the National Environmental Policy Act would not apply.

The 2-1 decision by the appeals court panel is a bit spicy. It finds numerous other instances of error by Judge Williams. Including her decision about the government waiving a challenge to the venue of the case.

We flag an additional aspect of the district court’s order that further undermines our confidence in the district court’s reasoning and provides support for our conclusion that the Defendants are likely to prevail on appeal. 

Specifically, we think the district court erred in finding that the defense of improper venue was waived by the Defendants’ failure to argue it in their initial responses to the motion for a temporary restraining order.  No one disputes that the Defendants did not raise the issue of venue in their initial responses to the Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order…

But the district court misread or misapplied the plain text of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 

There is a closed universe of documents that constitute pleadings within the plain meaning of Rule 7…A response to a motion for a temporary restraining order is not a pleading under the Rules, and a party’s decision not to challenge venue therein does not amount to waiver.  The district court’s f inding to the contrary was erroneous.   

And more importantly, Judge Williams’ decision to dismantle the facility as part of a TRO.

It is entirely unclear to us, moreover, how the district court concluded that it could order the proactive dismantling of the Facility by way of a mandatory preliminary injunction.  If there were a substantial likelihood that the Plaintiffs would succeed on their NEPA claim (and as we’ve already explained, there isn’t), the appropriate remedy at this stage might, at most, have been to enjoin the further use of or construction at the Facility pending completion of an EIS, not the affirmative expenditure of public monies to take it apart.

Gov. DeSantis celebrated the ruling with a video announcing the site remained open for business.

The mission continues at Alligator Alcatraz.

The media was wrong.

The leftist judge has been overturned.

Florida will keep leading the way. pic.twitter.com/Ik2fJnqXIP

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 4, 2025

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was especially happy about the ruling because Judge Williams had previously found him in contempt.

Victory secured against activist judge who held me in contempt!

The 11th Circuit not only blocked Judge Williams’ order to close Alligator Alcatraz, but they blocked her from proceeding with the case until the appeal is complete.

A win for Florida and President Trump’s agenda!

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) September 4, 2025

The contempt finding was made in June and involved a different immigration case.

At the moment there are only about 125 detainees left at Alligator Alcatraz but with this ruling that number could climb again. The site previously hosted 1,000 people and could potentially hold even more.

• Editor’s Note: illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left’s lies, new legislation wasn’t needed to secure our border, just a new president.

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