Friends of the Everglades and The Center for Biological Diversity have filwed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against several state and federal agencies to try to stop a plan to build a detention center in the Florida Everglades.
The suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and Miami-Dade County. Friends of the Everglades is represented by Earthjustice and attorneys Scott Hiaasen and Paul Schwiep.
The lawsuit claims that the plan has gone through no environmental review as required under federal law, and the public has had no opportunity to comment.
Governor Ron DeSantis is moving full-speed ahead with developing the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, roughly two hours west of Miami, and one hour east of Naples, with a goal of detaining up to 5,000 people.
“The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species. 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. “Friends of the Everglades was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 to stop harmful development at this very location. Fifty-six years later, the threat has returned — and it poses another existential threat to the Everglades.”
“This massive detention center will blight one of the most iconic ecosystems in the world,” said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This reckless attack on the Everglades — the lifeblood of Florida — risks polluting sensitive waters and turning more endangered Florida panthers into roadkill. It makes no sense to build what’s essentially a new development in the Everglades for any reason, but this reason is particularly despicable.”
“This plan has had none of the environmental review that’s required by federal law,” said Tania Galloni, Managing Attorney for the Florida office of Earthjustice. “Cruelty aside, it defies common sense to put a mass of people, vehicles, and development in one of the most significant wetlands in the world. That’s why we’re going to court.”
Our President and Governor are awesome, use our natural resources in Florida to MAGA!
“Cruelty aside”????Cruelty to whom? Do you realize these buildings are air-conditioned? I am not for this arrangement because we need to ship them out and not spend hundreds of millions housing criminals in our backyard. That area was used as the staging area for equipment during hurricanes. But let’s not pretend that the criminals are going to be abused in any way.