By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday ordered a halt to new construction at “Alligator Alcatraz” and barred bringing more detainees to the migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades touted by President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams also ordered the removal of some equipment and supporting infrastructure at the remote facility.
The judge in Miami, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, sided with environmental groups who say the facility is endangering the Everglades and its wildlife.
Florida, which is partnering with the federal government in the building of the facility, immediately filed an appeal.
The order said that authorities must remove “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project,” within 60 days. It added that some fencing and additional lighting that had already been installed must also be removed.
The environmental groups that mounted the legal challenge welcomed Thursday’s ruling.
The facility is located 37 miles (60 km) west of Miami in a vast subtropical wetland that is home to alligators, crocodiles and pythons – imagery that the White House leveraged to show its determination to remove migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the U.S. under former President Joe Biden.
The complex in southern Florida at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport is estimated to cost $450 million annually and could house some 5,000 people, officials estimate.
The Department of Homeland Security had set aside funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s shelter and services program to cover a “large part” of the cost of the detention center.
Two environmental groups filed a legal motion in June seeking to block further construction at the detention site, saying it violated federal, state and local environmental laws.
For several years, “every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” the judge wrote in Thursday’s order.
“This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.”
Some local leaders also objected to the construction of the facility, which has drawn crowds of demonstrators.
Trump, who has toured the site, has dismissed the environmental concerns, saying the detention facility was a template for what he would like to do nationwide.
The Republican president, who has a home in Florida, has for a decade made hardline immigration and border policies central to his political agenda.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by Nate Raymond and Mike Scarcella; Editing by Frank McGurty and Kate Mayberry)
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