A federal court in Miami has ordered Florida to temporarily pause construction of the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center. And ICE is now hiring “patriotic Americans” as young as 18.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled Aug. 7 the state cannot install additional lighting, fencing or paving at the facility already being used to detain migrants ahead of deportation.
Environmental groups sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County in June, demanding an impact study as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity also accused the government of violating the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide public notice of the project located in a wetlands surrounded by Big Cypress Preserve.
Eve Samples
“This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades.
The group also filed notice in July warning the federal and state agencies the detention facility violates the Endangered Species and Clean Water acts.
“This fight isn’t just about wetlands or endangered species, though those are at stake. It’s about safeguarding the fabric of environmental protections our country stitched together a half-century ago. It’s about standing up for the soul of Florida,” Samples said.
Williams’ order has a 14-day limit and does not require the state or federal government to cease detention operations at the facility but only to pause construction until a hearing on the case can be held.
“The harm to defendants from briefly suspending expansion of the facility is minimal, especially given that the court is not enjoining continued operations of the site nor even preventing additional detainees from being brought to the site if current capacity allows,” Williams explained.
State officials confirmed the facility continues to operate and took shots at the judge in the process.
“Today’s ruling by an activist judge will have no impact on immigration enforcement in Florida.”
“Today’s ruling by an activist judge will have no impact on immigration enforcement in Florida,” said Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “Alligator Alcatraz will remain operational, continuing to serve as a force multiplier to enhance deportation efforts.”
“Operations at Alligator Alcatraz are ongoing and deportations are continuing,” DeSantis announced.
Separately, DHS announced it is hiring “patriotic Americans” as young as 18 to help ICE round up and deport undocumented immigrants from the U.S.
Recruitment also has been opened to candidates older than 37, the previous age limit for “dedicated Americans” who want “to join ICE to remove the worst of the worst out of our country,” DHS said.
“We are ending the age cap for ICE law enforcement,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Aug. 6. “Qualified candidates can now apply with no age limit.”
The move follows congressional passage of a massive spending bill with more than $170 billion dedicated to border and immigration enforcement, including $28 billion for ICE to hire an additional 10,000 agents.
DHS said the effort is aimed at hiring “even more patriots … to arrest murderers, pedophiles, gang members, rapists and other criminal illegal aliens from America’s streets.”
Published accounts and federal statistics, however, indicate the Trump administration’s deportation campaign is not limited to criminals and, in fact, rarely snares criminals.
In its review of federal data, the CATO Institute reported 65% of individuals detained as of June 14 “had no criminal convictions” and 93% “were never convicted of any violent crimes. About nine in 10 had no convictions for violent or property offenses. Most convictions (53%) fell into three main categories: immigration, traffic or nonviolent vice crimes.”
Even so, DHS reported receiving more than 80,000 applicants in the first week of its new recruitment campaign. Those hired will receive a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan forgiveness and repayment plans, overtime and retirement benefits.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, received widespread criticism for expressing a stereotype about migrant farmworkers as genetically predisposed to strenuous labor.
“These people do it naturally,” Trump said during a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
He cited a conversation with a farmer about migrant laborers in which he was told, “‘They don’t get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die.’”
“I mean, you’ll see a farmer with the same person working for him for 20 years,” Trump said. “The person’s even paying taxes and other things. … I want to work with them. … We can’t let our farmers not have anybody. You know … these people, you can’t replace them very easily.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported about 40% of hired farmworkers were undocumented immigrants in 2022, down from 55% in 2001.
Joanna Kuebler
“President Trump’s ugly characterization of hard-working immigrants reveals his own dark prejudice and is a telling admission about the reality of immigrants’ contributions to America — one very different from the dangerous ‘invaders’ he and (aide) Stephen Miller often want us to picture,” said Joanna Kuebler, chief of programs for America’s Voice.
“President Trump’s open racial stereotyping is unfortunately just the latest example of a disturbing, deeply held belief that informs his larger vision of remaking the nation in MAGA’s image.”