Feds Reimburse Florida $608M for "Alligator Alcatraz'

Federal officials on Friday confirmed that Florida has been reimbursed $608 million for the costs of building and running an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades—a move that exposes "Alligator Alcatraz" to the risk of being ordered to close for a second time. The US Department of Homeland Security said in an email that the state of Florida was awarded its full reimbursement request. The AP explains the legal significance:

• A Miami judge in August agreed with environmental groups who had sued, saying the site wasn't given a proper environmental review before it was converted into an immigration detention center. Florida was given two months to wind down operations.

• The judge's injunction, however, was put on hold for the time being by an appellate court panel in Atlanta that said the state-run facility didn't need to undergo a federally required environmental impact study because Florida had yet to receive federal money for the project.
• "If the federal defendants ultimately decide to approve that request and reimburse Florida for its expenditures related to the facility, they may need to first conduct an EIS (environmental impact statement)," the three-judge appellate court panel wrote last month.
• The appellate panel decision allowed the detention center to stay open and put a stop to wind-down efforts.
• Environmental groups that had sued the federal and state governments said the confirmation of the reimbursement showed that the Florida-built facility was a federal project "from the jump." "We'll do everything we can to stop this lawless, destructive and wasteful debacle," Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.