{"id":3458,"date":"2026-07-06T04:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3458"},"modified":"2026-07-06T04:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:26:33","slug":"everglades-advocates-respond-to-press-conference-with-desantis-federal-officials-at-alligator-alcatraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3458","title":{"rendered":"Everglades Advocates Respond to Press Conference With DeSantis, Federal Officials at \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Florida Gov. DeSantis, White House Border Czar Tom Homan and Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement Executive Director Anthony Coker said today at a news conference that they have zero detainees at the ICE detention center in Big Cypress National Preserve.<\/p>\n

The groups suing to enforce environmental laws at the year-old facility \u2014 which underwent zero environment review \u2014 issued the following statements:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis outrageously expensive internment camp inflicted documented harm on the Everglades, and Gov. DeSantis and Attorney General Uthmeier are trying to sweep it under the rug. We won\u2019t allow it. The public deserves a full, transparent assessment of the extent of the damage at \u2018Alligator Alcatraz.\u2019 We are poised to return to court to defend the Everglades and demand full remediation of the harm,\u201d said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverwhelming opposition has forced Trump and DeSantis to scamper away from Alligator Alcatraz with their tails between their legs,\u201d said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cNow we\u2019ll make sure they clean up their mess and work to protect the entire site so a twisted boondoggle like this one never again darkens the doorstep of Big Cypress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor\u2019s press conference confirmed the theory of our case. This facility was coordinated between the state and the Department of Homeland Security behind closed doors, built without public scrutiny, and operated in secrecy,\u201d said Paul J. Schwiep of Coffey Burlington and counsel for Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201c<\/strong>Now the administration believes it can quietly walk away and leave its mess for others to clean up. The law will not allow them to escape accountability. We will ask the courts to ensure that the environmental damage is fully addressed, that the site is restored, and that no future administration can repeat this mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve learned over the past year, it\u2019s that state and federal officials say one thing to the public and another thing in court. We intend to hold their feet to the fire in a court of law,\u201d said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for Earthjustice\u2019s Florida regional office.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s wait and see what they tell the court under oath,\u201d said Scott Hiaasen of Coffey Burlington.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friends of the Everglades, represented by Earthjustice and Coffey Burlington attorneys Paul Schwiep and Scott Hiaasen, along with the Center for Biological Diversity, sued<\/a> in June 2025 to enforce a law that requires review of environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act before major federal projects are approved. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida joined the lawsuit to protect tribal rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Gov. DeSantis, White House Border Czar Tom Homan and Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement Executive Director Anthony Coker said today at a news conference that they have zero detainees at the ICE detention center in Big Cypress National Preserve. The groups suing to enforce environmental laws at the year-old facility \u2014 which underwent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[742],"class_list":["post-3458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ciencia-y-tecnologia","tag-vr-news-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}