Operations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' back on after appeals court halts judge's order

A federal appeals court on Thursday halted a lower court judge’s order to end operations indefinitely at the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center built in the Florida Everglades.

The panel voted 2-1 to stay the judge’s order pending the outcome of an appeal, allowing the facility to continue holding migrant detainees – for now.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction blocking Florida from further expanding the detention center and ordering operations to dwindle by the end of October. The judge also ordered the state to transfer detainees to other facilities and to remove equipment and fencing.

The rulings came after a lawsuit brought by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe accused the state and federal officials of not following federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center, which the groups argue threatens sensitive wetlands that have protected plants and animals.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS FLORIDA FROM FURTHER EXPANSION OF 'ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ' IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITY

"This is a heartbreaking blow to America’s Everglades and every living creature there, but the case isn’t even close to over," Elise Bennett, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration moved quickly to build the facility at a single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to detain and deport migrants. DeSantis has said the facility's location was intended to deter escape plans.

Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be used as a model for future facilities across the country to support his mass deportation plan.

Reacting to Thursday's ruling, DeSantis said that claims that the facility would soon shutter were false.

"We said we would fight that. We said the mission would continue. So Alligator Alcatraz is in fact, like we've always said, open for business," he said on social media.

LAWSUITS THREATEN TO UPEND ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ OPERATIONS

The Department of Homeland Security described the ruling as "a win for the American people, the rule of law and common sense."

"This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility," DHS said in a statement. "It has and will always be about open-borders activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities, full stop."

Florida officials said in court papers this week that it would resume accepting detainees at the facility if the request for a stay was granted.

Though plaintiffs say the case is far from over, claiming that the facility will eventually be shut down.

"In the meantime, if the DeSantis and Trump administrations choose to ramp operations back up at the detention center, they will just be throwing good money after bad because this ill-considered facility — which is causing harm to the Everglades — will ultimately be shut down," Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs have argued that because Florida financed the project itself and the federal government hasn’t directly contributed, "Alligator Alcatraz" falls outside federal environmental review requirements, even though it houses federal detainees.

In Thursday's ruling, the appeals court largely accepted those claims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.