DeSantis Vows to Fight After Federal Judge Rules Against Alligator Alcatraz Expansion
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has pledged to continue fighting after a federal judge blocked the expansion of “Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigrant detention facility located in the Florida Everglades. The injunction,issued by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, also prohibits the camp from accepting new detainees. The order resulted from a lawsuit filed by environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe, who argued the expansion threatened the Everglades’ restoration and conservation efforts. Williams emphasized that her ruling upheld longstanding commitments by politicians to protect the Everglades. Despite the setback, DeSantis stated he expected the ruling and plans to appeal, asserting that this will not deter efforts to deport individuals considered dangerous. The Department of Homeland Security criticized the judge’s decision, calling it activist interference, while Florida’s Division of Emergency Management has filed an intent to appeal the ruling.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to fight after a federal judge on Thursday blocked the expansion of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigrant detention camp in the Florida Everglades.
Two weeks prior, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a temporary halt on the expansion; Thursday’s preliminary injunction merely formalized the order, Fox News reported.
Williams also barred the facility from accepting any more detainees, according to CBS News.
But DeSantis had anticipated the pushback, telling Fox News in an interview that the “fix was in.”
“We totally expected an adverse ruling,” DeSantis told Fox News. “And we also knew we were going to immediately appeal and get that decision stayed. So we will ultimately be successful in this. It’s not going to stop our resolve.”
Williams’ order was in response to a lawsuit filed by environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
For decades, “every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” Williams wrote in her ruling, according to CBS News.
“This Order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises,” she wrote.
These judges are ignoring the SCOTUS …. no one should listen to the appointed clown shows anymore
BREAKING: Governor Ron DeSantis just announced the deportations WILL CONTINUE at Alligator Alcatraz after an activist judge ordered they start shutting the facility down.
“We’re… pic.twitter.com/HB81GM0epR
— JB Slear (@JB_Slear) August 22, 2025
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin criticized the order, CBS News reported.
“This ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade,” McLaughlin said.
“It is another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists from our country,” she said.
On Thursday, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the camp’s operations, filed an intent to appeal the decision in court, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The Eleventh Circuit Court hasn’t yet assigned a docket number to the case.
“We’re going to continue to do what we need to do to help the Trump administration remove illegal aliens from our country. You know, that’s the mandate that they have,” DeSantis told Fox News.
“So we anticipated this, but I don’t think it’s going to be insurmountable in the end,” he said.
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