Alligator Alcatraz Lives: 11th Circuit says immigrant detention facility to remain open

Courthouse News reports that a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has refused to order the closure of Florida migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz."

The decision reverses a district court injunction directing the transfer of inmates and dismantling of the facility.

“Florida, not federal, officials constructed the facility,” wrote Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor. “They control the land and entirely built the facility at state expense. The only federal action the environmentalists can identify is the decision not to conduct an environmental review.”