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MIAMI (CN) — A Florida official overseeing the immigrant detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” asked a federal judge on Monday to throw out a lawsuit brought by environmental groups since it was filed in the wrong county.
Seeking an injunction to stop construction of the detention center, the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades sued last month in the Southern District of Florida. Yet Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, argues the detention center is located in Collier County, which falls under the Middle District of Florida.
“All the detention facilities, all the buildings and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade,” Guthrie said in the latest filing through his attorney Jesse Panuccio. “Within the site, only a tiny sliver of unpaved runway is situated in Miami-Dade County. No portion of the detention facility lies on that sliver of extended runway.”
The environmental groups filed the suit against U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County. The latter party owns the site known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis used emergency powers to acquire the 17,000-acre area from the county, further complicating the situation.
“Nor do plaintiffs allege any Miami-Dade-based decision making related to their claims,” Guthrie said. “Here, all relevant decisionmaking was made or is being made by officials in Washington, DC; in Tallahassee, Florida; or onsite at the facility in Collier County, Florida. The county, in other words, no longer controls what happens there. And thus, nothing done or currently occurring in Miami-Dade bears a substantial nexus to the claims.”
In response to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier proposed the idea of a detention center in the Everglades last month and quickly began construction. Within days, trucks carrying prefabricated housing, generators, security lighting and fill dirt entered the area and workers hastily set up tents and trailers to house those arrested by ICE and state law enforcement over suspected immigration violations.
Trump visited the facility on July 1 — the day before the first detainees arrived — and told reporters, “We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.”
Since then, environmental activists, indigenous tribes, Democratic state lawmakers and members of Congress have decried the detention center as inhumane and detrimental to the ecosystem, pointing to reports of flooding, pest infestations, sewage backups and light pollution.
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union and immigration advocacy groups also brought a class action in the Southern District contesting the lack of attorney access to those kept in the remote facility.
In a virtual hearing held Monday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who recently took over the suit, said she would rule on the venue dispute in the next 10 days, but will not make a decision on the injunction until next month.
“The state had no objection to venue in the Southern District of Florida until this case was reassigned to Judge Williams, who previously held Florida Attorney General Uthmeier in contempt for ignoring her orders,” said Paul Schwiep, lead counsel for the environmental groups, in a statement. “Suddenly, in an obvious attempt at judge-shopping, the state objects to Judge Williams’ ruling on this case.”
Williams, a Barack Obama appointee, held Uthmeier in contempt of court last month for defying her order blocking enforcement of a new state law that allows arrests of certain immigrants entering the state. Uthmeier recently asked the Supreme Court to uphold the law.
Schwiep of the firm Coffey Burlington maintains the Southern District is the correct venue for his clients’ case.
“The state of Florida commandeered the detention center site from Miami-Dade County, the site is partially within Miami-Dade County, the county is a defendant and the case was appropriately filed in Miami-Dade County,” the attorney said.
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