The environmental trial interrupts the construction of Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”

Progress on Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” stopped on Thursday August 7, when a federal judge ordered a two -week construction ban. The decision follows a hearing in a trial by environmental groups and the Miccosukee tribe of the Indians.

The complainants – without justice, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Friends of the Everglades and the Miccosukee – made this hasty construction of the installation in the Everglades which illustrated without contribution from the public or declaration of environmental impact. American district judge Kathleen Williams temporarily prohibited the installation of new industrial style, paving, filling, excavation or any other expansion of the site in the installation while it considers the case, reports the Associated Press.

“We are delighted that the judge has seen the urgent need to take a break on additional construction, and we are impatient to advance our ultimate objective to protect the unique and in danger of Everglades from the damage caused by this mass detention center,” said the order of NPR, executive director of Everglades Eve, according to the order of Williams, according to NPR.

Florida has opened the center of fortune to accommodate the massive arrests of immigrants from the Trump administration. The detention center was born at a training airport at a single track slightly used in the Florida Everglades in June, meeting in just eight days. In its current capacity, it can contain up to 3,000 prisoners in temporary tent structures, the reports of the Associated Press, although the officials have declared that it would hold up to 5,000.

In July, Miami Herald / Tampa Bay Times obtained a list of more than 700 people who were already detained in the establishment or who should be sent. The temporary construction ban does not affect any current or incoming detainee, reports CBS News.

The prosecution claims that the construction of the Alligator Alcatraz threatens the large cypress zone, an ecologically sensitive part of the Grand Everglades ecosystem which contains the large national cypress reserve. This area serves as a habitat for many endangered and endangered species, notably Florida Panther, the bat in Florida, the Snail Kite Everglades and the wooden stork, indicates the costume. The complainants also allege that the project would reverse more than $ 20 billion in environmental restoration efforts funded by the State and funded by the federal government.

The Indian Miccosukee tribe lives in this Everglades region for generations and has joined the trial to protect their native land, according to Inside Climate News. Ten miccosukee villages are within a radius of 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the detention center, including one only 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the establishment, reports ICN. “This place is my house, and I would have no other house than the Everglades,” said Betty Osceola, a 57 -year -old tribe member in ICN. “I think the barbaric thing is happening is what Desantis and Trump create.”

The complainant’s legal affair depends on their assertion that Florida and the Trump administration have violated the National Environmental Policy (NEPA) law by not holding hearings, making public comments or by conducting an environmental impact study before unraveling the project. During Thursday’s hearings, the prosecutor of the Ministry of Justice, Marissa Priopato, told Williams that federal law does not apply in this case because the Alligator Alcatraz is controlled by Florida, reports NPR.

Paul Schwiep, lawyer for environmental groups, argued that the detention center would not exist without the federal government’s desire to hold prisoners, according to the AP. Williams agreed that the detention center was, at least, a joint partnership between the State and the federal government. It should also be noted that although Florida covers the cost of construction and installation operations, the State should request the reimbursement of the Trump administration, reports NPR. While these arguments take place in court in the next two weeks, the future of the project will remain in the limbo.