A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump’s detention center, called Alligator Alcatraz, must close. The site, officially the South Florida Detention Facility, has sixty days to shut down and stop operations.
The order says all generators, gas, sewage and waste systems have to be cut off which makes it impossible to keep it going. The camp got the name Alligator Alcatraz because of the many alligators around the area and the tie to the old Alcatraz prison.
Supporters had called it low cost, but it has been under fire from human rights groups and environmental advocates. Some critics even compared it to a concentration camp and used the phrase Alligator Auschwitz.
Judge Kathleen Williams, who was put on the bench during the Obama years, said the site was causing damage to the Florida Everglades. She wrote: “Since that time, every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades. This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfil those promises.”
The group Friends of the Everglades celebrated the decision and called it a landmark victory. Director Eve Samples said: “It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government and there are consequences for ignoring them.”
She said it was a win for people who want the Everglades protected and not turned into something else.
Trump has praised the camp before, saying it was built to hold what he called the most dangerous migrants. He once told reporters: “It’s known as Alligator Alcatraz, which is very appropriate because I looked outside and that’s not a place I want to go hiking.” He also said escape would not happen with so many alligators waiting.
During a livestream he said it was about as safe and secure as you could get for a detention site. He added that he would like to see more centers built in the same way and maybe even across the country.
Trump said: “It can be. I mean, you don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don’t have to pay them so much, but I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be. This is a very important thing.”
