Feds Failed To Conduct Environmental Review Of 'Alligator Alcatraz', Internal Documents Show

The controversial migrant detention facility in Florida is being sued for violating federal environmental protections and harming endangered species

Alligator Alcatraz could pose a threat to the endangered Florida panther. Photo by Maheera Kulsoom on Unsplash

Internal documents obtained by Public Domain show that the federal government did not conduct an Endangered Species Act or a National Environmental Policy Act review for the Florida migrant detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz” — further proof that the facility may be operating in violation of federal environmental laws.

The state of Florida hurriedly built Alligator Alcatraz in a remote area of the Everglades earlier this year in an effort to promote the mass deportation policies of the Trump administration. A compound of tents and barbed-wire fence, Alligator Alcatraz is slated to hold thousands of migrants upon its completion. President Donald Trump visited the facility along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in July, amid criticisms of its inhumane conditions.

In late June, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, two conservation organizations, sued in federal court, arguing that the facility is violating NEPA, the ESA and other federal laws. The lawsuit asserts that the construction of Alligator Alcatraz was a coordinated effort between the state of Florida and the federal government and must comply with federal environmental laws, which it failed to do. They allege in their filing that the facility, which is being built within the core habitat of the endangered Florida panther in Big Cypress National Preserve, did not undergo the proper environmental reviews required under NEPA and the ESA.

The conservation groups asked the court to halt construction of the facility until it undergoes proper environmental review. They won an initial victory in early August when a judge issued a temporary restraining order pausing construction at Alligator Alcatraz for two weeks.

One of the conservationists’ central claims is that the detention facility, with its industrial-grade lighting, diesel generators, trucks, tents, barbed-wire fence and intensive construction activities, runs afoul of the ESA. The groups allege that the federal agencies tied to the project, including the Department of Homeland Security, failed to ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct an
ESA review of the project, despite its potential to harm imperiled species, including the beleaguered Florida panther.

“The Federal Agencies,” the groups wrote in their notice of intent to sue, “have failed to initiate and complete formal [Endangered Species Act review] over their respective agency actions associated with the construction and operation of the mass immigration detention center in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve, which may affect—and is indeed likely to adversely affect—species listed under the ESA.”

Public Domain can confirm these key allegations against the facility: Alligator Alcatraz did not undergo an Endangered Species Act review, nor did it undergo NEPA review. According to internal Fish and Wildlife Service documents reviewed by this publication and confirmed by a government source, the agency never received a request to conduct a formal ESA review of Alligator Alcatraz from the federal agencies tied to the project. The agency did not receive any requests to participate in a NEPA review of the facility either. The documents in question comes from internal agency communications from earlier in August, and have not previously been reported.

“This confirms what we suspected and adds to the growing evidence that the Trump administration is shirking its responsibilities to protect America’s Everglades, its endangered species and the health and well-being of Floridians,” said Elise Bennett, a senior attorney and Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It is little surprise to us that an administration that has so little regard for vulnerable people would have even less regard for our wildlife, waters and public lands.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the Fish and Wildlife Service did not reply to Public Domain’s requests for comment.

Despite Alligator Alcatraz’s role in promoting Trump’s deportation agenda, lawyers for the Trump administration and for Florida have argued that federal environmental laws do not apply to the site because it was built and is operated by the state. A federal court will decide whether that argument is legitimate in the days ahead. If the court sides with environmentalists, the site’s failure to comply with such laws could hamper future operations there.