Alligator Alcatraz should be closed by now

This should have been the week “Alligator Alcatraz” shut down.

Two months ago, a federal judge in Miami halted construction at the makeshift immigration prison and prohibited new detainees from arriving, citing evidence of harm to the Everglades — including to the endangered Florida panther, fragile wetlands and the Miccosukee Tribe.

The court ordered removal of high-intensity lights and fencing, and a winding down of activity within 60 days.

That would have been Monday.

Instead, two weeks after the injunction, an appeals court in Atlanta paused the lower court’s order, saying the state didn’t have to complete a federally required environmental impact study because the state had not applied for or received federal money for Alligator Alcatraz.

But, actually, the state has. We now know it applied for a FEMA grant on Aug. 7 — on the second day of our four-day trial in Miami — but never corrected earlier representations that no application was made. FEMA approved the application and transferred $608 million to the state on Sept. 30, just before the government shutdown.

There’s a growing mountain of evidence that Alligator Alcatraz was built in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Meanwhile, the government is dragging its feet in court to dodge accountability — using the federal shutdown as an excuse to delay the appeal.

We’re more resolved than ever to keep fighting to restore the lower court’s injunction to protect the Everglades.

Last week, we filed another lawsuit against the Florida Division of Emergency Management for failing to disclose public records related to Alligator Alcatraz.

This relentless work is only possible because of YOU — our Friends who have stepped up and donated to our Everglades Defense Fund, which is giving horsepower to this landmark legal battle. To those of you who have contributed, I am deeply grateful.

If you have not yet donated, I invite you to give what you can to the Everglades Defense Fund. Friends of the Everglades has been fighting with integrity since 1969, and we’re honored to soldier on today.