{"id":95878,"date":"2025-08-13T16:05:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T20:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=95878"},"modified":"2025-08-13T16:05:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T20:05:19","slug":"environmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/environmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental concerns could halt construction at Florida&#8217;s &#8216;Alligator Alcatraz&#8217; immigration jail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By David Fischer MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Construction of a makeshift immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed \u201c Alligator Alcatraz \u201d could be halted indefinitely as a federal judge considered Wednesday whether building on sensitive wetlands violated environmental laws. Last week, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a 14-day halt on additional construction at the site while witnesses testify. The temporary order doesn\u2019t include any restrictions on law enforcement or immigration enforcement activity. The first phase of \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d opened in July atop a lightly used, single-runway training airport. Less than 1,000 detainees were being held there as of last week, and it&#8217;s designed to eventually hold up to 3,000 detainees. President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F08%2F13%2Fenvironmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By David Fischer MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Construction of a makeshift immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed \u201c Alligator Alcatraz \u201d could be halted indefinitely as a federal judge considered Wednesday whether building on sensitive wetlands violated environmental laws. Last week, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a 14-day halt on additional construction at the site while witnesses testify. The temporary order doesn\u2019t include any restrictions on law enforcement or immigration enforcement activity. The first phase of \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d opened in July atop a lightly used, single-runway training airport. Less than 1,000 detainees were being held there as of last week, and it&#8217;s designed to eventually hold up to 3,000 detainees. President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F08%2F13%2Fenvironmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Environmental concerns could halt construction at Florida&#039;s &#039;Alligator Alcatraz&#039; immigration jail - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/environmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental concerns could halt construction at Florida&#039;s &#039;Alligator Alcatraz&#039; immigration jail - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By David Fischer MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Construction of a makeshift immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed \u201c Alligator Alcatraz \u201d could be halted indefinitely as a federal judge considered Wednesday whether building on sensitive wetlands violated environmental laws. Last week, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a 14-day halt on additional construction at the site while witnesses testify. The temporary order doesn\u2019t include any restrictions on law enforcement or immigration enforcement activity. The first phase of \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d opened in July atop a lightly used, single-runway training airport. Less than 1,000 detainees were being held there as of last week, and it&#8217;s designed to eventually hold up to 3,000 detainees. President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/environmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-13T20:05:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/13\\\/environmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/13\\\/environmental-concerns-could-halt-construction-at-floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-jail\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Environmental concerns could halt construction at Florida&#8217;s &#8216;Alligator Alcatraz&#8217; 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