Trump Suffers Major Legal Blow on His Beloved “Alligator Alcatraz”

A federal judge has ordered Florida to halt construction of President Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility for two weeks.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams’s temporary restraining order, issued Thursday, gives some reprieve to the environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians who brought the lawsuit against the state of Florida on the grounds that the facility violates numerous environmental laws and is a threat to the region’s rich wetlands in the Everglades. The center would also be a specific threat to panthers, according to Randy Kautz, a wildlife expert who testified in the lawsuit.

“There has been a stable reproducing population of panthers in this area in this range at least over the last 30 years,” he testified in court. “Panthers have succeeded and resided here.… There is a chance that [expanding Alligator Alcatraz] results in putting this species at risk.”

Alligator Alcratraz’s leadership has also disregarded the environmental review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

While temporary, this halts a pet project for Trump that has already received accusations of abuse and inhumane conditions for detained immigrants and workers alike. Williams will continue to hear the case.