Environmental Law and Policy

Environmental groups suing to close Florida’s 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration detention center in the Everglades told a federal appeals court this week that federal and state officials withheld evidence showing the Department of Homeland Security had already moved to reimburse Florida for the project, triggering federal environmental review requirements. Newly obtained emails and documents reveal Florida applied to FEMA for a $608 million grant by early August 2025—before an appeals panel stayed a Miami judge’s shutdown order on the premise that no federal reimbursement application yet existed—and that FEMA approved the funding in late September, which advocates say proves close federal–state partnership from the outset.