Judge considers whether ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ challenge was filed in wrong venue

MIAMI (AP) — A legal challenge to a hastily-built immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades was filed in the wrong venue, government attorneys argued Wednesday in the first of two hearings over the legality of “Alligator Alcatraz” in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups.

Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the federal lawsuit by environmental groups since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, government attorneys argued during Wednesday’s hearing in federal court in Miami.

“Everything is happening outside the southern district, either Collier County, Tallahassee or the District of Columbia,” said attorney Jesse Panuccio, who represented the state of the Florida.

Friends of the Everglades attorney Paul Schwiep agreed that the lawsuit could have been filed in any of several districts, including Florida’s middle district, but the temporary facility could have significant impacts on the cities, environment and drinking water of Miami-Dade County, making the southern district an appropriate venue.

Schwiep also pointed out that the state only complained about venue after a judge appointed by President George W. Bush recused himself from the case earlier this month, and it was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have called Williams an “activist judge” after she found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt for ignoring her orders in another case.

Panuccio denied any attempts of “judge-shopping” and said the state would be seeking to change the venue of any cases related to the detention facility filed in the southern district.

Williams did not rule on the venue challenge Wednesday. Any decision about whether to move the case could also influence a separate lawsuit brought by civil rights advocates who say that detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” have been denied access to attorneys and immigration courts.

The federal and state government defendants in the civil rights case also argue that the lawsuit was filed in the wrong venue. At the request of a judge, the civil rights groups on Tuesday filed a revised class-action complaint arguing that the detainees’ constitutional rights were being violated.

“Defendants have wholly failed to develop any policy or process for detainees to access legal counsel at the facility,” they wrote in a new filing seeking class-action status. “Attorneys have been unable to discover any working process for setting up calls, via phone or video, with their clients or prospective clients.”

Environmental groups filed their lawsuit against federal and state officials in Florida’s southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn’t follow state and federal environmental laws. Besides Wednesday’s hearing over venue, a second hearing has been scheduled for next week on the environmental groups’ request for temporary injunction.

The first of hundreds of detainees arrived a few days after the lawsuit was filed, and the facility has the capacity to hold 3,000 people.

The detention center was opened by Florida officials, but critics said it’s unclear whether federal immigration officials or state officials are calling the shots. Florida officials nicknamed the facility after the closed island prison outside San Francisco to highlight its remoteness and difficulty to escape, but a draft emergency evacuation plan made public Wednesday referred to it officially as the South Florida Detention Facility. The plan said the temporary facility could be operating for a year or more.

Deportation flights from “Alligator Alcatraz” started last week.

Williams on Monday ordered that any agreements be produced in court between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Florida Department of Emergency Management, a move that could shed some light on the relationship between federal and state agencies in running the facility.

Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane, as well as a threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

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Kate Payne in Tallahassee contributed to this report.

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