Court Clears Path for “Alligator Alcatraz” on Sacred Tribal Land
A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the continued operation of Alligator Alcatraz, a migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, despite tribal and environmental opposition. The Miccosukee Tribe and environmental groups argue the facility desecrates sacred land and was built without proper environmental review. The case will return to a lower court for further proceedings, while the facility remains operational.
- ▪The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction that had ordered the shutdown of Alligator Alcatraz.
- ▪The Miccosukee Tribe claims the facility's light pollution disrupts their religious practices tied to the night sky.
- ▪The tribe and environmental groups allege the facility was built without the required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
- ▪Judge Nancy Abudu dissented, arguing the federal government effectively controls the facility through DHS and ICE.
- ▪The Everglades provide drinking water for millions and are the focus of a $27 billion restoration effort.
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freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: "motherjones_right_rail_1", slotId: "ROS_ATF_300x600" }); People walk near the front entrance to Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades on April 22.Joe Raedle/Getty via Inside Climate News Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Every spring, Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe observes its corn dance season on lands the tribe holds as sacred within the fragile Everglades. But this year’s festivities are different because of the migrant detention site that now looms among the tribal lands, Alligator Alcatraz.
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