US court allows Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to remain open for now

A US appeals court ruled on Thursday that a Florida migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” can remain open for now.

A lower court judge had barred the Trump administration and Florida officials last month from bringing any new migrants to the facility and for much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shutting it down.But a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the detention center can remain open while a Trump administration appeal of the shutdown order is being heard.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit arguing that the facility threatens the sensitive Everglades wetlands ecosystem and was hastily built without the legally required environmental impact studies.

The center was assembled in just eight days in June with bunk beds, wire cages and large white tents at an abandoned airfield in the Everglades, home to a large population of alligators.

Republican President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the detention site after its opening, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards.

The White House has nicknamed the facility “Alligator Alcatraz,” a reference to the former island prison in San Francisco Bay that Trump has said he wants to reopen.

The center was planned to hold 3,000 undocumented migrants, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

A district judge last month ordered a halt to further construction at the detention center and for it to be dismantled in 60 days.

Several detainees have spoken with AFP about the conditions at the center, including a lack of medical care, mistreatment and the alleged violation of their legal rights.