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Donald Trump will visit the opening of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Monday, June 30, 2025
ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN" Donald Trump will visit the opening of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (Rafael Olmeda, South Florida Sun Sentinel, June 30, 2025)
ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Environmental groups sue to stop ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ from operating in the Everglades. (Mitch Perry & Jay Waagmester, Florida Phoenix, June 27, 2025)
Hearing today in federal court. From Florida Phoenix:
Environmental groups sue to stop ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ from operating in the Everglades
Gov. DeSantis said earlier on Friday that the facility could be open to accepting detainees by next Tuesday.
A view of the Miami Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport from the sky. (Screenshot via Attorney General’s X video)
Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit in a South Florida federal court on Friday over the immigration detention center under construction in the Everglades that has been dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
They later filed a motion for expedited relief, seeking entry of a temporary restraining order by July 1.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida against federal, state, and local agencies: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Florida Division of Management, and Miami-Dade County.
The environmental groups complain the plan has not gone through any environmental review as required under federal law, and that the public has not had an opportunity to comment.
“The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by the Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida Panther and other iconic species,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “The scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
The plan has developed at lightning speed. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier first announced “Alligator Alcatraz” in a video posted on his X account eight days earlier, on June 19. In that video, he announced that the facility would hold up to 1,000 undocumented migrants (state officials have since revised that total to as many as 5,000 detainees).
The site is at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on land owned by Miami-Dade County. The Florida Division of Emergency Management reached out last week to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and offered to purchase the land for $20 million. Levine Cava said that figure was “vastly lower” than the more recent appraisal of the site, “which is at least $190 million.”
Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Division of Emergency Management, responded that his agency would seize the property pursuant to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ powers originally dating from a January 2023 executive order declaring a state of emergency “due to the mass migration of illegal aliens to Florida.”
Groups claim the plan threatens the restoration of the Everglades
The two groups claim in the lawsuit that the division holds no independent authority to construct and manage a correctional facility and attempting to do so exceeds the scope of authority granted by Florida law.
They also contend that “the installation of housing units, construction of sanitation and food services system, industrial high-intensity lighting infrastructure, diesel power generators, substantial fill material altering the natural terrain, and provision of transportation logistics (including apparent planned use of the runway to receive and deport detainees) poses clear environmental impacts” to listed species, wetlands, and surface waters.
Friends of the Everglades is requesting that the court declare that the project violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and stop the state from authorizing or permitting further development or use of the site for purposes of a detention center.
“This plan has had none of the environmental review that’s required by federal law,” said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for the Florida office of Earthjustice, which represents Friends of the Everglades in the lawsuit. “Cruelty aside, it defies common sense to put a mass of people, vehicles, and development in one of the most significant wetlands in the world. That’s why we’re going to court.”
Speaking live from the site on Fox and Friends on Friday morning, DeSantis said the facility could be ready to receive detainees by next Tuesday.
The governor has waved away any environmental threat. “I think people are just trying to say that because they just don’t want Florida assisting with the deportations. There’s a lot of people that want to have open borders. I get that. But that’s not the policy of the state. So, we’re going to do it,” he said Thursday.
Democrats question the timing of the plan
Shortly before the lawsuit was filed, a group of Florida Senate Democrats said that the DeSantis administration withheld the plan from public eye until after lawmakers left Tallahassee earlier this month upon the conclusion of their extended session.
“The announcement of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz has been timed intentionally to avoid legislative oversight,” Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith told reporters in a news conference Friday.
“It’s meant to get Trump’s attention and to distract from the Medicaid dollar-laundering scheme that found this attorney general under intense scrutiny and investigation, even from the Republican-led Florida House of Representatives,” Smith said. “It’s an attempt to distract from his contempt of court charges that he has been facing as well.”
Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman said her caucus was not aware of the plan before it was made public and its quick announcement-to-roll-out “leads me to believe that this was on the books for a much longer time period.”
The narrowly post-session announcement “leads me to believe that that was purposeful and that it was an idea that they intended to move forward with, but they didn’t want it to be done when the Legislature was in session,” Berman said.
The senators remarked on the political aspect of the facility, noting that the Republican Party of Florida is fundraising off the alliterative name, selling T-shirts and other merchandise.
“This isn’t about safety, it’s about scoring more political points by targeting immigrants and fueling fear,” Sen. Shevrin Jones said.
Berman sent a letter to Uthmeier and DeSantis Friday morning contending the plan has the potential to “constitute cruel and unusual punishment.”
“We as Democrats are looking at making Florida more affordable and not spending half a billion dollars on a prison camp in the middle of the Everglades,” Berman said.
She questioned whether DeSantis was using emergency orders in the “spirit” of what they are meant for.
Despite “being done under the guise of an emergency order. And yes, the letter of the law has been followed,” Berman acknowledged. “What is the emergency in the state of Florida, that we need to build this facility under this time frame?”
Smith called it a “dangerous escalation” that “clearly has serious environmental and human rights implications.”
“There’s no way that those temporary facilities that are intended to shelter people after a storm will be sufficient during a storm,” he said, adding that the Division of Emergency Management is involved with this operation during hurricane season.
Neither the governor’s nor attorney general’s office responded to Phoenix requests for comment relating to Democrats’ concerns in time for publication of the story.
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Sunday, June 29, 2025
HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Stopping Demolitions, Sen. Leek's SB 582 Signed Into Law by Governor DeSantis
DON PEDRO FORNELLS HOUSE, 211-year old Spanish colonial building illegally demolished September 25, 2014 by then-HARB CHAIR CLAUDE LEONARD WEEKS, JR., working without permits -- WEEKS was fined only $3700 by St. Augustine Code Enforcement Board
CARPENTER'S HOUSE,
demolished by lawyer-speculator DAVID BARTON CORNEAL
to build swimming pool for his hotel at site of the former DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES
John Muir, denouncing destruction of nature, said, "These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.
On May 23, 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis signed State Senator Tom Leek's bill SB. 582, providing for higher fines for illegal demolitions of certain historic structures. Thank you, Senator Leek and thank you, Governor DeSantis.
This new law would help halt illegal demolitions of historic structures. Our Nation's Oldest City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County, have a sordid history of demolitions of historic structures, to include:
o Henry Flagler's Kirkside mansion.
o Echo House.
o Carpenter's House.
o Don Pedro Fornells House.
o Several dozen Victorian homes.
These historic buildings were destroyed by unjust stewards, misguided people and influential organizations.
Update: June 9, 2025 St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, again named a "Home Rule Hero" by Florida League of Cities, was interviewed by former Folio Weekly Editor Anne Schindler, host of WJCT.org "First Coast Connect" on the legislation. www.wjct.org
St. Augustine's Temple Destroyers included some churches that demolished historic homes for parking, and also former St. Augustine Mayor and then-Chair of the Historic Architecture Review Board, construction contractor CLAUDE LEONARD WEEKS, JR., who has a Master's Degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Florida, the man who demolished Don Pedro Fornells House, a 211-year old Spanish colonial building working without permits on September 25, 2014, fined only $3700 by St. Augustine's Code Enforcement Board, whose proceedings were neither videotaped nor televised. (After the hearing, St. Augustine City Attorney ISABELLE CHRSTINE LOPEZ hugged WEEKS, after calling me sexist, stating that she can hug anyone she wants.)
ENROLLED
2025 Legislature SB 582
2025582er
1
2 An act relating to unlawful demolition of historical
3 buildings and structures; amending s. 162.09, F.S.;
4 authorizing a code enforcement board or special
5 magistrate to impose a fine that exceeds certain
6 limits for the unlawful demolition of certain
7 historical buildings or structures under certain
8 circumstances; providing that such fine may not exceed
9 a certain percentage of just market valuation;
10 providing an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14 Section 1. Paragraph (e) is added to subsection (2) of
15 section 162.09, Florida Statutes, to read:
16 162.09 Administrative fines; costs of repair; liens.—
17 (2)
18 (e) For the demolition of a building or structure that is
19 individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places
20 as defined in s. 267.021 or is a contributing resource to a
21 National Register-listed district, a code enforcement board or
22 special magistrate may impose a fine that exceeds the limits of
23 this subsection if the code enforcement board or special
24 magistrate finds, based on competent substantial evidence, that
25 the demolition of the building or structure was knowing and
26 willful and was not permitted or the result of a natural
27 disaster. A fine imposed pursuant to this paragraph may not
28 exceed 20 percent of the fair or just market valuation of the
29 property before demolition of the building or structure, as
30 determined by the property appraiser.
31 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.
SB 582: Unlawful Demolition of Historical Buildings and Structures
GENERAL BILL by Leek
Unlawful Demolition of Historical Buildings and Structures; Authorizing a code enforcement board or special magistrate to impose a fine that exceeds certain limits for the unlawful demolition of certain historical buildings or structures under certain circumstances; providing that such fine may not exceed a certain percentage of just market valuation, etc.
Senate Committee References:
Bill History
| DATE | CHAMBER | ACTION |
|---|---|---|
| 2/10/2025 | Senate | • Filed |
| 2/20/2025 | Senate | • Referred to Community Affairs; Governmental Oversight and Accountability; Rules |
| 3/4/2025 | Senate | • Introduced |
| 3/6/2025 | Senate | • On Committee agenda-- Community Affairs, 03/11/25, 4:00 pm, 37 Senate Building |
| 3/11/2025 | Senate | • Favorable by Community Affairs; YEAS 7 NAYS 0 |
| 3/12/2025 | Senate | • Now in Governmental Oversight and Accountability |
| 3/20/2025 | Senate | • On Committee agenda-- Governmental Oversight and Accountability, 03/25/25, 1:30 pm, 110 Senate Building |
| 3/25/2025 | Senate | • Favorable by Governmental Oversight and Accountability; YEAS 6 NAYS 0 • Now in Rules |
| 3/27/2025 | Senate | • On Committee agenda-- Rules, 04/01/25, 9:00 am, 412 Knott Building |
| 4/1/2025 | Senate | • Favorable by- Rules; YEAS 25 NAYS 0 • Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading |
| 4/3/2025 | Senate | • Placed on Special Order Calendar, 04/09/25 |
| 4/9/2025 | Senate | • Read 2nd time -SJ 381 • Read 3rd time -SJ 381 • Passed; YEAS 34 NAYS 0 -SJ 381 • Immediately certified -SJ 392 |
| 4/9/2025 | House | • In Messages |
| 4/28/2025 | House | • Bill referred to House Calendar • Bill added to Special Order Calendar (4/29/2025) • 1st Reading (Original Filed Version) |
| 4/29/2025 | House | • Read 2nd time • Placed on 3rd reading • Added to Third Reading Calendar • Read 3rd time • Passed; YEAS 115, NAYS 1 |
| 4/29/2025 | Senate | • Ordered enrolled |
| 5/16/2025 | • Signed by Officers and presented to Governor | |
| 5/23/2025 | • Approved by Governor | |
| 5/27/2025 | • Chapter No. 2025-87 |
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