Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions The Best Music of 2025 Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions The Best Music of 2025 About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Environmentalists want 'Alligator Alcatraz' to close. They'll get a hearing this week Environmental groups in Florida will get a hearing in federal court this week over whether the ICE facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz needs to close because of environmental damage to the Everglades. Law Environmentalists want 'Alligator Alcatraz' to close. They'll get a hearing this week April 6, 20264:46 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition From By Meghan Bowman Environmentalists want 'Alligator Alcatraz' to close. They'll get a hearing this week Listen · 3:45 3:45 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5768187/nx-s1-9717792" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Environmental groups in Florida will get a hearing in federal court this week over whether the ICE facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz needs to close because of environmental damage to the Everglades. Sponsor Message
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Federal judges will hear arguments this week in a lawsuit trying to shut down an immigration detention center in the Everglades. Environmental advocates and a Native American tribe say it was built without environmental reviews. From member station WUSF, Meghan Bowman reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUSHING)
MEGHAN BOWMAN, BYLINE: Water that serves South Florida crawls through thigh-high sawgrass in the marshes of the Everglades.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CAWING)
BOWMAN: And almost right in the middle of that fragile ecosystem is the immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. Water and sewage tanks are trucked in and out. Buses filled with detainees come and go.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE RUMBLING)
BOWMAN: Elise Bennett is with the Center for Biological Diversity. She's one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit to shut down the facility.
ELISE BENNETT: So we have significant concerns about ongoing construction-related damage. But there's also ongoing harm that continues just via the operation of the site.
BOWMAN: These environmental concerns started nearly 60 years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEY JUDE")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) Na na na na-na na na.
BOWMAN: It's 1968. "Hey Jude" by the Beatles was No. 1. Richard Nixon was president-elect.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICHARD NIXON: Clean air, clean water, open spaces - these should once again be the birthright of every American.
BOWMAN: It's also around the time construction began on the world's largest airport, the Everglades Jetport. Plans show it would have been five times the size of JFK in New York. But in the end, only one runway and a couple of buildings made it to completion. That's thanks in part to Nixon signing the National Environmental Policy Act - or NEPA - and to the late environmental advocate Marjory Stoneman Douglas. She founded Friends of the Everglades in 1969 to stop the airport development. In a Florida archive video, she said a conservationist came to her.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS: To tell me that he needed help to fight a proposed jetport out on the Tamiami Trail, with its industrial development that would have polluted all of the Everglades water.
BOWMAN: Her group is now one of the plaintiffs in the detention center lawsuit, which argues NEPA, the law spurred from the jetport battle, requires environmental studies and reviews before federal projects start construction.
EVE SAMPLES: Marjory would be outraged. She would be giving hell to the powers that be, I have no doubt.
BOWMAN: Eve Samples now leads Friends of the Everglades. Today rows of tents, generators and temporary structures line the single runway.
SAMPLES: It's such a striking tale of our origin story at Friends of the Everglades. Like, in the late '60s, early '70s, it was an environmental awakening, and now all of those protections are being tested.
BOWMAN: State officials did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. The detention center was put up in just eight days and opened last July. At the time, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the surrounding swamp with its resident alligators make it a good spot.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RON DESANTIS: They ain't going anywhere once they're there unless you want them to go somewhere, because good luck getting to civilization. So the security is amazing. But what...
(LAUGHTER)
DESANTIS: Natural and otherwise.
BOWMAN: Hundreds of millions of state dollars have gone to building and operating the facility, and when it opened, DeSantis said the federal government would pick up the tab. That hasn't happened yet. But Samples says no matter who pays for the detention center, laws must be followed.
SAMPLES: It's clear that this is a shell game that the state and federal government are playing in an attempt to dodge accountability for complying with important environmental laws.
BOWMAN: A federal hearing in the case will be held in a Miami courtroom on April 7, Marjory Stoneman Douglas' birthday.
For NPR News, I'm Meghan Bowman in Ochopee, Florida. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();