The immigration detention centre in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” must keep moving towards shutting down operations by late October, a judge has ruled, even as the state and federal governments fight that decision.
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US District Judge Kathleen Williams late on Wednesday denied those requests to pause her order to wind down operations at the facility, which has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system.
A Florida official said the controversial immigration detention centre would likely be empty of detainees in a matter of days. In an email exchange shared with Associated Press, Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said he expected the facility to be “down to 0 individuals within a few days”.
The detention centre was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the Everglades. State officials signed more than US$245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened on July 1.
US President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lock-ups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
Lawyers for the US Department of Homeland Security said in their request for a stay that Williams’ order last week, if carried out, would disrupt the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws.
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