Alligator Alcatraz expansions halted in federal ruling

An order from a federal judge to begin closing down Alligator Alcatraz in Florida has been appealed by the state.

“The deportations will continue until morale improves,” said Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesman for second-term Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Judge Kathleen Williams, on the bench for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, late Thursday formalized her injunction from two weeks ago. Her ruling halts any more expansion, any more people detained being brought to the facility, and carries an expectation that the facility population will decline within 60 days through transfers to other facilities.

Williams cited the “restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades” in her ruling. Environmental groups led the opposition of the facility.

The 30-square mile airport owned by Miami-Dade County is located roughly 60 miles east of Miami near the Everglades National Park. Its 10,000-foot-long asphalt runway was used for military training exercises and was intended to be part of Miami's new airport before a public outcry halted construction in 1970.

DeSantis plans a similar facility about 40 miles from Jacksonville in the northern part of the state. The 1,300-bed unit at Baker Correctional Institution could be expanded to 2,000 beds and has been dubbed the Deportation Depot.