Court allows Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to stay open pending appeal

ORLANDO, Fla. – A U.S. district judge ordered the facility to close last month, siding with the Miccosukee Tribe and environmental groups. They say the Florida and federal governments violated federal law requiring an environmental review in order to build the detention center in the midst of sensitive wetlands.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams refused to keep the facility open and ordered the defendants to wind down operations.

[VIDEO: President Trump visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Florida]

However, the appeals court judges said they believe the federal and state governments will likely be able to demonstrate that they didn’t violate environmental law by building “Alligator Alcatraz.” You can read the ruling at the end of this story.

The appellate judges also said the district judge was wrong to include a promise of federal funding reimbursement for the facility as proof that the federal law had to apply to Florida.

In the appeal filing, Homeland Security attorneys said no final federal funding decisions have been made, which means even though Florida is seeking federal funding for part of “Alligator Alcatraz,” no funding has been promised, and therefore the facility belongs to the state government.

“Obtaining funding from the federal government for a state project requires completing a formal and technical application process; a governor cannot apply for FEMA aid via press conference,” the judges wrote, “and a Facebook post does not somehow transfer funds from the federal fisc to Florida.”

[RELATED: Florida Gov. DeSantis holds conference on flights out of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’]

An Associated Press report found that shutting down the facility would cost Florida at least $200 million from the investment already made.

The AP analysis of publicly available state spending data also showed that Florida has signed at least $405 million in vendor contracts to build and operate the facility, which officials had initially estimated would cost $450 million a year to run. A previous AP review found that as of late July, the state had already allocated at least $245 million to run the site, which opened July 1.

The center has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system. There are several other lawsuits over it.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier crowed over the ruling on X Thursday.

In the meantime, Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced plans to open more detention facilities: one called “Deportation Depot” in North Florida is already underway. DeSantis said he was in talks to open another facility called “Panhandle Pokey.”

[READ BELOW: Appeals court ruling]