{"id":40048,"date":"2026-04-26T15:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/appeals-court-shields-alligator-alcatraz-as-miccosukee-move-to-protect-their-homeland\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T15:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:34:31","slug":"appeals-court-shields-alligator-alcatraz-as-miccosukee-move-to-protect-their-homeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/appeals-court-shields-alligator-alcatraz-as-miccosukee-move-to-protect-their-homeland\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals court shields Alligator Alcatraz as Miccosukee move to protect their homeland"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/div>
\"\u00a0\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MIAMI \u2013 The latest round of appeals has denied the lower court\u2019s ruling to dismantle Alligator Alcatraz, with Chief Judge William Pryor and Judge Andrew Brasher forming the majority and Judge Nancy Abudu dissenting.<\/p>\n

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-1 decision on April 21, 2026, overturning U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams\u2019 injunction that had ordered the state to begin winding down operations at the Everglades detention compound. Pryor, appointed by George W. Bush, authored the majority opinion joined by Brasher, a Trump appointee, concluding that Florida\u2014not the federal government\u2014 built and controls the facility \u201centirely at state expense.\u201d Their ruling held that because the state has not yet received federal reimbursement for the more than $600 million spent on construction and maintenance, the project does not trigger the National Environmental Policy Act\u2019s federal environmental review requirements.<\/p>\n

Judge Abudu, appointed by President Biden, issued a sharp dissent, calling the majority\u2019s reasoning \u201cjust plain wrong.\u201d She argued that immigration detention is a uniquely federal function and that the facility \u201cwould not, and could not, have been built and used as an immigration detention center without the federal defendants\u2019 request.\u201d Her opinion warned that the ruling leaves both detainees and the Everglades \u201cprotected by no one, and vulnerable to the whims of anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmental groups reacted immediately. Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said the decision \u201cwas hastily erected in one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country without the most basic environmental review, at immense human and ecological cost.\u201d The Center for Biological Diversity echoed that sentiment, vowing to continue litigation as the case returns to Judge Williams\u2019 court. Their filings argue that the detention center\u2019s floodlights, fencing, and heavy infrastructure disrupt wildlife corridors and undermine decades of Everglades restoration work.<\/p>\n

The Miccosukee Tribe, whose villages and ceremonial grounds lie within the same landscape, has joined those suits. Chairman Talbert Cypress said the facility \u201cposes a substantial threat to the rights and interests of the Tribe and the livelihood of Tribal members who live adjacent thereto,\u201d adding that officials have \u201cnot yet advised of a closure date.\u201d The Tribe\u2019s intervention strengthens the environmental plaintiffs\u2019 argument that the Everglades is a living homeland, not an expendable staging ground for immigration policy.<\/p>\n

As of late April 2026, Alligator Alcatraz remains operational under state control, shielded by the appellate ruling. The case now returns to the district court for further proceedings, where environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe plan to press for renewed review and accountability.<\/p>\n

(Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Hopa at editor@nativesunnews.today)<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Appeals court shields Alligator Alcatraz as Miccosukee move to protect their homeland<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>

Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/div>

\u00a0 MIAMI \u2013 The latest round of appeals has denied the lower court\u2019s ruling to dismantle Alligator Alcatraz, with Chief Judge William Pryor and Judge Andrew Brasher forming the majority and Judge Nancy Abudu dissenting. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-1 decision on April 21, 2026, overturning <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> April 26, 2026<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1541,"featured_media":40050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5627],"tags":[6658],"class_list":["post-40048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resource-directory-blog","tag-more-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}