The Florida Everglades, a sprawling expanse of wetlands teeming with wildlife and rich Indigenous history, has become the unlikely epicenter of a fierce legal, political, and cultural battle. At the heart of the controversy is the so-called "Alligator Alcatraz," an immigration detention center hastily constructed atop a former airfield within the Big Cypress National Reserve, just 50 miles from Miami. The facility, which has drawn the ire of the Miccosukee Tribe, environmentalists, and local activists, now faces an uncertain future after a decisive federal court ruling.
On August 21, 2025, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a sweeping preliminary injunction against the state of Florida and the federal government, ordering them to halt all further expansion of the Alligator Alcatraz detention center and to begin dismantling it within 60 days. According to Grist, Williams found that state and federal officials had violated federal law by failing to conduct a required environmental review and by neglecting to consult with the Miccosukee Tribe, whose village sits only a few miles from the site. The ruling, delivered in an 82-page opinion, also prohibited any further construction at the facility.
For the Miccosukee, who have called the Everglades home since the Seminole Wars of the 19th century, the decision was both a relief and a call to further action. "We felt good. I felt good personally, but I know that this is only the first step in the legal process," said Pete Osceola Jr., a long-term tribal lawmaker, in a statement to Grist. "I believe that my tribe is willing to go the distance to preserve our rights and our culture." The judge’s order, while preliminary, was clear in its assessment: "The project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area," Williams wrote, emphasizing the risk to the water supply on which the Miccosukee and others depend.
Environmental groups, including Friends of the Everglades, Earthjustice, and the Center for Biological Diversity, joined the tribe in their legal fight. "Our well-being is intertwined, and that’s why Congress created the National Environmental Policy Act and other landmark environmental laws to safeguard the health and welfare of people by requiring the government to carefully and publicly consider the impacts of its actions on our land, water, air, and biodiversity," Elise Bennett, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told reporters during a press conference.
The legal battle has already had ripple effects beyond Florida. Michelle Lynn Edwards, a sociologist at Texas State University who studies the intersection of environmental law and marginalized communities, told Grist that "this is not the only one"—referring to the growing number of immigrant detention centers planned across the country, many in states with large tribal populations. The Trump administration’s recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act earmarks approximately $45 billion for new detention centers, with several projects reportedly in the planning stages in Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Edwards believes the Everglades ruling "kind of set a precedent for this being a way to halt environmental harms from these immigrant detention centers."
But the ruling has not gone unchallenged. Florida officials, who manage the center on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), quickly filed an appeal. Governor Ron DeSantis, in remarks to reporters and Fox News, was blunt: "We’re going to continue working on the deportations, advancing that mission," he said. DeSantis also criticized the ruling, calling it "unlawful" and suggesting that the state would ultimately prevail on appeal. "We totally expected an adverse ruling," he told Fox News. "And we also knew we were going to immediately appeal and get that decision stayed. So we will ultimately be successful in this. It’s not going to stop our resolve."
Meanwhile, the lived reality for those near and inside Alligator Alcatraz has been grim. Residents in the nearby Miccosukee village have endured weeks of disruption: vehicles coming and going at all hours, stadium lights piercing the night, and restricted access to traditional hunting grounds. Inside the facility, according to Fox News, detainees have complained of "worms in the food, toilets not flushing, floors flooded with fecal waste and insects everywhere." Air conditioning failures in the sweltering heat, days without showers or prescription medicine, and only limited phone access to lawyers and loved ones have become commonplace. Separate lawsuits, including one filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, allege that detainees’ access to legal counsel has been severely restricted and that conditions are unsanitary and overcrowded.
The controversy has spilled into the cultural fabric of Miami, where artists and activists have mobilized in protest. In July 2025, Little Havana’s Artists 4 Artists (A4A) collective hosted a performance using swamp mud from the Everglades and soil from the checkpoint at Alligator Alcatraz, symbolizing the community’s connection to the land and the ongoing struggle. The exhibition "The Artist As Activist," curated by Isabella Marie Garcia and running through September 7, features works that confront themes of migration, resistance, and the detention center itself. "I was thinking of artists who are doing creative work, but also doing work for others," Garcia told Hyperallergic. The show includes mixed-media collages, cartographic screenprints tracing migration histories, and an altarpiece constructed from earth and materials collected at sites connected to the facility.
Motyko, one of the exhibiting artists, described the exhibit’s "activating power," saying, "One of the reasons I accepted Isa’s [Garcia] invitation was because we’re not just going to have the work sit here. There’s the opportunity to mobilize people to do something." The exhibition’s message, displayed in multiple languages, is unambiguous: "The Gestapo is here, has been here and its name is ICE. No to Alligator Alcatraz!"
For Miami’s artists and activists, the struggle is ongoing. "What is our responsibility at this moment, as artists, activists, as revolutionaries?" Agua Dulce, another artist, asked in conversation with Hyperallergic. "Is it to create things that are pretty and can sell? Or is it to delve deep into our value system and create work that challenges people to believe that a different world is possible?"
The fate of Alligator Alcatraz remains uncertain as appeals move forward and the legal battle continues. For the Miccosukee, environmentalists, and their allies, the court’s injunction is a hard-won milestone—but as Osceola cautioned, "these issues are not dead yet." The Everglades, and the people who call it home, remain at the center of a national reckoning over immigration, environmental justice, and tribal sovereignty.
