By MIKE SCHNEIDER
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal lawsuit that temporarily had interrupted operations at an immigration detention in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” was paused Wednesday by an appellate court because of the government shutdown.
Earlier this month, U.S. government attorneys had asked the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to stay proceedings in the case because funding for the Justice Department, as well as the Department of Homeland Security which is a defendant, had expired because of the government shutdown.
They requested the pause until appropriations were restored by Congress.
The appellate court on Wednesday granted the request. While the facility was built and operated by the state of Florida and its private contractors, federal officials have approved reimbursing the state for $608 million.
Attorneys for the environmental groups that had sued the federal and state governments over environmental concerns about the facility said that the administration of President Donald Trump had been litigating hundreds of cases around the country during the shutdown.
“Apparently, the government has sufficient money and manpower to operate a detention center in the heart of the Everglades to detain foreign born workers, but not enough to file a brief in court to justify its conduct, which the trial court held unlawful,” said Paul Schwiep, one of the attorneys.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with the Miccosukee Tribe, sued federal and state agencies this summer, alleging they didn’t follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams agreed and ordered in August that the facility needed to wind down operations within two months. However, that injunction was put on hold in early September when the appellate court panel in Atlanta issued a stay, pending the outcome of an appeal, allowing the facility to stay open for the time being.
An opening appellate brief from the federal government had been due on Friday.
Two other lawsuits challenging operations at the Everglades detention center are proceeding in federal court in Florida.
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