A federal appeals court on Thursday halted a lower court judge’s order to end operations indefinitely at the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center built in the Florida Everglades.

The panel voted 2-1 to stay the judge’s order pending the outcome of an appeal, allowing the facility to continue holding migrant detainees – for now.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction blocking Florida from further expanding the detention center and ordering operations to dwindle by the end of October. The judge also ordered the state to transfer detainees to other facilities and to remove equipment and fencing.

The rulings came after a lawsuit brought by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe accused the state and federal officials of not following federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center, which the groups argue threatens sensitive wetlands that have protected plants and animals.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS FLORIDA FROM FURTHER EXPANSION OF 'ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ' IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITY

"This is a heartbreaking blow to America’s Everglades and every living creature there, but the case isn’t even close to over," Elise Bennett, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration moved quickly to build the facility at a single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to detain and deport migrants. DeSantis has said the facility's location was intended to deter escape plans.

Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be used as a model for future facilities across the country to support his mass deportation plan.

Reacting to Thursday's ruling, DeSantis said that claims that the facility would soon shutter were false.

"We said we would fight that. We said the mission would continue. So Alligator Alcatraz is in fact, like we've always said, open for business," he said on social media.

LAWSUITS THREATEN TO UPEND ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ OPERATIONS

The Department of Homeland Security described the ruling as "a win for the American people, the rule of law and common sense."

"This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility," DHS said in a statement. "It has and will always be about open-borders activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities, full stop."

Florida officials said in court papers this week that it would resume accepting detainees at the facility if the request for a stay was granted.

Though plaintiffs say the case is far from over, claiming that the facility will eventually be shut down.

"In the meantime, if the DeSantis and Trump administrations choose to ramp operations back up at the detention center, they will just be throwing good money after bad because this ill-considered facility — which is causing harm to the Everglades — will ultimately be shut down," Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs have argued that because Florida financed the project itself and the federal government hasn’t directly contributed, "Alligator Alcatraz" falls outside federal environmental review requirements, even though it houses federal detainees.

In Thursday's ruling, the appeals court largely accepted those claims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow the president to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission, after lower courts ruled he lacks the authority to remove members of independent agencies without cause.

President Donald Trump moved to fire Rebecca Slaughter earlier this year, but lower courts ruled she could keep her job because the law only allows commissioners to be removed for issues such as misconduct or neglect of duty.

Earlier this week, an appeals court said Trump unlawfully fired Slaughter and that her firing was squarely at odds with Supreme Court precedent.

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP FROM FIRING FTC COMMISSIONER IN CASE TESTING PRESIDENT'S REMOVAL POWERS

The Justice Department contends that the FTC and other executive branch agencies are under Trump’s control and that the president has the power to remove commissioners without cause.

The testing of the president’s removal power could lead the nation's highest court to consider overturning a 1935 Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, in which justices unanimously ruled that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.

The ruling brought in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination, the airwaves and other matters.

That case also centered around the FTC, which was highlighted by lower-court judges in the lawsuit filed by Slaughter, who has been fired and rehired multiple times this year as the case worked its way through the courts.

The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. The agency's seats are typically made up of three members of the president’s party and two from the opposing party.

Slaughter was first appointed by Trump in 2018, and then later reappointed by former President Joe Biden. She is the only remaining Democrat on the FTC.

FTC FIRINGS TAKE SPOTLIGHT IN TRUMP'S FIGHT TO ERASE INDEPENDENCE OF AGENCIES

The high court has already allowed the removal of several other board members from independent agencies. 

The justices have also suggested that Trump's removal powers have limitations at the Federal Reserve, which could soon be tested as well in the case of Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.