Judge orders Florida leaders to prove who has authority over Alligator Alcatraz

OCHOPEE, Fla. — Federal and state officials in Florida must produce agreements showing which government agency or private contractor has legal authority to detain people or perform immigration officer roles at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigration detention facility in the Everglades, a federal judge said Monday, AP reports.

Officials must provide by Thursday all written agreements and contracts showing who has legal custody of the hundreds of detainees at the facility that was hastily constructed more than a month ago on an isolated airstrip in South Florida’s Everglades wilderness, said U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, an appointee of President Donald Trump.

Ruiz’s order was part of an ongoing civil rights lawsuit against the state and federal governments by immigration attorneys who say “Alligator Alcatraz” detainees’ constitutional rights are being violated since they are barred from meeting lawyers, are being held without any charges, and a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings.

Who has authority over the detention center has been a murky issue since it opened at the beginning of July.

The federal government and Florida had asked that any disclosures be limited to agreements between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and three Florida agencies — the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida National Guard and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The detainees’ attorneys had requested documents showing who was responsible for removal proceedings, as well as information on the number of employees at “Alligator Alcatraz,” but Ruiz said those requests from the detainees’ lawyers were too broad.

The lawsuit is the second to challenge “Alligator Alcatraz.” Environmental groups have sued federal and state officials, asking that the project be halted because the process didn’t follow state and federal environmental laws. A hearing on that lawsuit is set for Wednesday.

Separately, the Archdiocese of Miami said it celebrated the first Mass at the detention center on Saturday following weeks of negotiations.

“I am pleased that our request to provide for the pastoral care of the detainees has been accommodated,” Archdiocese of Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said Monday in a statement.