A federal appeals court issued a ruling on Thursday allowing an illegal alien detention center in Florida dubbed Alligator Alcatraz to remain “open for business” while a lawsuit against the state and the Trump administration makes its way through court.
An Obama-appointed federal district court judge issued a temporary restraining order last month ordering Florida and the Trump administration to stop placing illegal aliens in the facility. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that judge’s order in a 2-1 decision on Thursday.
The judges ruled that a lawsuit brought by environmental groups and an American Indian tribe “failed to state a viable claim” that Florida and the Department of Homeland Security violated federal environmental laws.
“Given that the federal government has an undisputed and wide-reaching interest in combatting illegal immigration, and that illegal immigration is a matter of national security and public safety, we think the injunction issued below goes against the public interest,” the majority wrote in the court’s decision.
Both the Department of Homeland Security and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis celebrated the ruling.
“Today’s order is a win for the American people, the rule of law and common sense,” the Department of Homeland Security posted on X. “This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility. 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.”
HUGE VICTORY FOR ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ. Today’s order is 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. It has and will always be about open-borders…
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 4, 2025
“The mission continues on immigration enforcement. The media was giddy that somehow Alligator Alcatraz was ‘shutting down.’ And we told them that wasn’t true,” DeSantis said in a video message. “There have been illegal aliens continuing to be there and being removed and returned to their home country. But they ran with the narrative because some leftist judge ruled, implausibly, that somehow Florida wasn’t allowed to use our own property to help the federal government in this important mission.”
“So Alligator Alcatraz is, in fact, like we’ve always said, open for business. The mission continues and we’re going to continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement,” DeSantis added.
The Trump administration has partnered with states across the country to open up similar detention centers with names like the Cornhusker Clink in Nebraska and the Speedway Slammer in Indiana.
