Overview

• DHS asked U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams for an expedited ruling to suspend her closure order so the Everglades facility can continue operating during appeals.
• The judge’s order, issued last week, halts new admissions, caps the population, and sets a 60‑day timeline to transfer detainees and remove fencing, lighting, and generators.
• Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lawsuit prompted the ruling, say the rushed project violated federal environmental laws and threatened protected wetlands, and they oppose a stay.
• ICE enforcement official Garrett Ripa said the site’s 2,000 beds are needed given overcrowding elsewhere in Florida and warned that closure would hinder immigration enforcement and public safety.
• Civil-rights groups have filed additional suits over access to counsel and detention practices, and Florida is preparing a second detention facility at a state prison in the northern part of the state.