Tipsheet

Appeals Court Hands Big Win to Florida, DHS on Alligator Alcatraz

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  September 05, 2025 10:30 AM

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the “mission continues” at Alligator Alcatraz after a federal appeals court stayed a lower court judge’s order to end immigration enforcement operations at the facility. 

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta voted 2-1 to stay the order pending the outcome of an appeal, meaning illegal immigrants can continue to be held there for the time being. 

“The media was giddy that somehow Alligator Alcatraz was ‘shutting down,’” the Republican governor said in a video statement. “We told them that wasn’t true, there have been illegal aliens continuing to be there and being removed and returned to their home country, but they ran with the narrative because some leftist judge ruled, implausibly, that somehow Florida wasn’t allowed to use our own property to help the federal government in this important mission because they didn’t do an environmental impact statement. Well, we said we would fight that, we said the mission would continue."  

In granting the stay, the appeals panel found that the lower court had misinterpreted a federal law requiring a review of potential environmental harms before building a major project in the ecologically fragile Everglades. It found that because the detention center had so far been entirely funded by Florida, and because the state operated the center, the National Environmental Policy Act would not apply. (NYT)

"Alligator Alcatraz is...open for business," DeSantis added. "We’re gonna continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement."