A federal judge ruled Thursday that the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility may remain operational but cannot be expanded or accept additional detainees.
District Judge Kathleen M. Williams issued a preliminary injunction blocking any expansion of the site, installation of additional lighting, or the transfer of new detainees. Her order states that no new individuals “who were not already being detained at the site at the time of this order” may be brought in.
The 82-page ruling also requires that, within 60 days, “and once the population attrition allows for safe implementation of this Order,” the facility must remove “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project.”
Temporary fencing erected during construction must also be taken down so that Native American tribe members can access the site the same way they did prior to the facility’s construction, according to NBC News.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling. In a statement, she said it “ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade. It is another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country.”
“This activist judge doesn’t care about the invasion of our country facilitated by the Biden administration, but the American people do,” McLaughlin said. “We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”
The decision follows an earlier temporary restraining order issued this month by Williams, which halted operations after lawsuits alleged that the facility’s construction had bypassed environmental regulations.
