{"id":5642,"date":"2025-09-03T17:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T21:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weact.org\/?post_type=update&#038;p=5642"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T02:13:12","slug":"we-act-honors-indigenous-action-underscores-importance-of-bedrock-environmental-law-as-federal-judge-halts-ice-florida-detention-center","status":"publish","type":"update","link":"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-honors-indigenous-action-underscores-importance-of-bedrock-environmental-law-as-federal-judge-halts-ice-florida-detention-center\/","title":{"rendered":"WE ACT Honors Indigenous Action &#038; Underscores Importance of Bedrock Environmental Law As Federal Judge Halts ICE Florida Detention Center"},"template":"","class_list":["post-5642","update","type-update","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_type-press-release","focus_tax-environmental-health","focus_tax-movement-building","person_tax-leslie-fields"],"acf":{"details":{"":null,"featured_image":5221,"update_type":[366],"focus_area":[8,11],"authors":[197],"abstract":""},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_hero_links","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_hero_links":{"title":"","abstract":"","links":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">September 3, 2025\r\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact: Ashley Sullivan, <\/span><a href=\"mailto:ashley.sullivan@weact.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ashley.sullivan@weact.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 1 (917) 837 - 1183<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>WASHINGTON<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 On Thursday, August 21, 2025, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/biologicaldiversity.org\/docs\/regions\/Florida-and-Caribbean\/Everglades-Prelim-Injunction-08-22-2025.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ordered<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Trump administration and the state of Florida to immediately halt processing new detainees, cease construction, and terminate operations at the mass immigrant detention center known as the South Florida Detention Facility in Florida\u2019s Big Cypress National Preserve. The preliminary injunction, requested by the Miccosukee Tribe, Friends of the Everglades, and the Center for Biological Diversity, demonstrates the continued vital nature of bedrock environmental legislation such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/programs\/protecting-nepa\/\">National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)<\/a>, the crucial leadership of Indigenous groups, as well as the ongoing need to advance environmental justice in the U.S.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judge William\u2019s ruling pointed out that the detention center\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which some Republicans have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/miami\/news\/republican-donors-and-floridas-hurricane-know-how-helped-build-alligator-alcatraz-so-quickly\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">promoted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was built <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rapidly over just eight days on the ancestral homelands of the federally-recognized Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and without the requisite analysis under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and an environmental impact statement required under NEPA. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.flsd.692544\/gov.uscourts.flsd.692544.24.0.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to court filings<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ongoing construction and operations at the detention center risk spills that could pollute the surrounding wetlands and broader ecosystems.The detention center poses a serious threat to the sensitive ecological landscape and detainees face hundred-degree temperatures in cramped <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2025\/07\/16\/alligator-alcatraz-conditions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">conditions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with mosquitoes, lack of fresh food and water, and tents that are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/miami\/news\/detainees-describe-worms-in-food-sewage-near-beds-inside-alligator-alcatraz\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">flooded with waste<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This ruling<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> underpins the importance of Indigenous rights<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the essential nature of bedrock laws like <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NEPA <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as a backstop to dangerous politically driven actions.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In recent months, the Trump administration has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.velaw.com\/insights\/the-new-nepa-federal-agencies-overhaul-procedures-for-environmental-reviews\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">weakened NEPA dramatically<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and threats of Congressional efforts to reform permitting by further diminishing this bedrock law are ongoing. Coupled with continued attacks on environmental justice policies and programs, NEPA is a last line of defense in many circumstances<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the court ruling, the South Florida Detention Facility must shut down operations within 60 days, though the state of Florida has appealed the decision.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe welcome the court\u2019s decision to pause construction on this deeply concerning project. The detention facility threatens land that is not only environmentally sensitive but sacred to our people,\u201d said Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nativenewsonline.net\/sovereignty\/federal-court-halts-construction-of-alligator-alcatraz-near-miccosukee-villages\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interview with Native News Online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a major win for environmental, social justice, and immigration groups, and a testament to\u00a0 the Miccosukee Tribe\u2019s success in protecting their lands. This is an important moment in the long legacy of Indigenous peoples\u2019 battles in solidarity with allied movements against extractive industry and construction projects carried out without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. <\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leslie Fields, Chief Federal Officer of WE ACT for Environmental Justice shared,<\/span>\r\n<blockquote><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWE ACT for Environmental Justice stands with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and supports the work of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades who successfully advocated to close the inhumane, unjust, and ecologically unsound detention center in Florida\u2019s Big Cypress National Preserve.\"<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\"We call on Congress members and t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he federal government to protect and respect regulatory legislation and tribal sovereignty. We celebrate this ruling and emphasize its lesson in the continued necessity of bedrock environmental laws like NEPA, and the need for comprehensive environmental justice policy. When environmental justice principles are upheld, interconnected injustices are addressed, and we can all live in greater dignity, health, and safety.\u201d<\/span><\/blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"># # #<\/p>\r\nWE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan-based, membership-driven organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and\/or low-income residents are meaningfully included in the development of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/\">weact.org<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/weactforej\/\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/weact4ej.bsky.social\">Bluesky<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/weact4ej\/\">Instagram<\/a>.","include_drop_cap":false}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WE ACT Honors Indigenous Action &amp; Underscores Importance of Bedrock Environmental Law As Federal Judge Halts ICE Florida Detention Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WE ACT Honors Indigenous Action &amp; Underscores Importance of Bedrock Environmental Law As Federal Judge Halts ICE Florida Detention Center.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-honors-indigenous-action-underscores-importance-of-bedrock-environmental-law-as-federal-judge-halts-ice-florida-detention-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WE ACT Honors Indigenous Action &amp; 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