Along the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 55 miles west of downtown Miami, a small training airport now serves as a detention center for immigrants.
However, it was embroiled in controversy even before it opened on July 1.
In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis took control of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport from Miami-Dade County using emergency powers to build the facility. The airport was quickly operational, thanks to Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie.
"The site here at the Dade Collier airport in the heart of South Florida was a unique opportunity because while it was an existing footprint with a massive runway, it was something that was not necessarily full or being used all the time," DeSantis said at a press conference. "So we were able to, under Kevin Guthrie's leadership, within record time, create a facility that could support intaking, processing, and eventually deporting these illegal aliens."
It took eight days to build the facility. It was designed to detain up to 3,000 people and has an estimated annual operating budget of $450 million, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
Officials nicknamed the detention center "Alligator Alcatraz." The name reflects the infamous former federal prison, Alcatraz, which lies on a small island about a mile offshore from San Francisco, surrounded by shark-infested waters. But unlike the original Alcatraz, this facility is located in the heart of the Everglades, surrounded by protected state and federal lands and wildlife, like alligators.
Thousands of immigrants from all over the country have been detained there.
The lawsuit
The Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades filed suit before the facility opened, seeking to shut down operations, alleging officials violated state and federal laws during the construction of the new immigrant detention center.
"The law we filed the case under is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is this common sense, look before you leap kind of law that's intended to make sure federal agencies don't take actions that have horrible consequences that they can never take back," The Center's lead attorney Elise Bennett said.
The lawsuit cites violations, including potential polluted runoff, harm to endangered wildlife, and threats to water quality. Light pollution in the region is another big concern. Bennett said the facility's lights are impacting one of the state's endangered species – the Florida Panther.
In the initial lawsuit filing, Bennett used evidence like a report on how the detention center could impact the nocturnal species' habitat by biological scientist Dr. Randy Kautz. He said panthers would lose at least 1,024 - 1,895 acres around the site "due to indirect impacts associated with human presence and artificial lighting."
"We have significant concerns about ongoing construction-related damage, but there's also ongoing harm that continues just via the operation of the site," she said. A representative for Gov. Ron DeSantis called the lawsuit "frivolous," according to the Associated Press.
In July, the Miccosukee Tribe joined the lawsuit to protect their land and villages. The Tribe did not respond to requests for an interview. In August, a court ordered operations to be wound down within two months. In her 82-page order, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said the "plaintiffs provided substantial evidence to prove that irreparable harm from the detention camp is ongoing and likely to worsen absent injunctive relief."
Click on the center of the white line below to move the slider right and left to see light pollution in 2022 versus 2025.
A divided three-judge appellate panel overruled Williams' decision in early September and reopened the detention center. The order said, "while the environmental effects mentioned by the Plaintiffs may result in down-the-line harm, the injuries facing the Defendants and the public are critical, immediate, and concrete."
The order also said that, while the governor may have publicly stated that the facility would be paid for with federal dollars, the money has not been transferred and therefore could not be counted. However, the state had already applied for more than $600 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for the facility the month before the court issued its ruling.
The court argued that had the detention center received federal money and been a federal project, the state may have had to complete an Environmental Impact Study under NEPA before construction began. But it did not.
Just weeks later, on Sept. 30, FEMA awarded the state $608,500,000.
In October, an appellate court paused the lawsuit due to the government shutdown.
"We'll be here when they're ready to face us in court over this major threat to our beautiful Everglades," Bennett from the Center said in a press release following the decision.
The case is expected to resume early this year.
The pushback
Throughout all the back-and-forth in court, the detention center remained fully operational.
People have traveled there from all over the U.S. to protest both the detentions and environmental concerns. Some attend prayer vigils or snap selfies in front of the big blue sign at the entrance, while others have kept watch from outside the front gates. Organizers of one large mass said they turned the speakers up loud enough so the detainees could hear others praying for them.
And this isn't the first time the location has been the subject of environmental concern.
Environmental advocate and wildlife photographer Clyde Butcher said he's been working for 40 years to help people understand how beautiful and important the Everglades are.
Butcher moved to Florida in 1980. A few years later, he discovered the Big Cypress preserve and began photographing the landscape. He hoped his work would inspire people to save the pristine environment. Now, he has a gallery a few miles down the road from the detention center.
"It's frustrating on so many levels," Butcher said. "It was a mistake. Take it down and get rid of it."
The location
When the facility opened, DeSantis said any detainees who escaped the makeshift jail would have to contend with wildlife.
"They ain't going anywhere once they're there unless you want 'em to go somewhere, because good luck gettin' to civilization," he said during a press conference in June. "The security is amazing – natural and otherwise."
Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park are neighboring regions in South Florida. The two are intertwined: Big Cypress lies northwest of the Everglades and supplies the wetlands with fresh water. It's also a major source for South Florida's drinking water. That's where the runway and detention center are.
DeSantis said since the runway was already there, and the site was remote, it was a prime spot for the immigration facility.
Meanwhile, the governor has invested about $8 billion to restore the Everglades since 2019. He marked his 80th Everglades restoration event in early November.
"We're going to continue our support for Everglades restoration and all we've done to be able to promote conservation and water quality in the free state of Florida," he said.
"I mean, he wants to be known for helping to save the Everglades, and here he is destroying it," Butcher said.
But environmental groups and advocates like Butcher said they won't stop fighting to shut down the facility.
"There's no other Everglades in the world," he said. "This is it, folks."
Want to join the conversation or share your story? Email Meghan at bowman4@wusf.org.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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