The Steady Drip: Feds Fight to Keep 'Alligator Alcatraz' Open as Site Faces 3rd Legal Challenge (Connecting the Dots: U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, Duke University, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Kimberly Cheatle, Letitia James & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Kathleen M. Williams

Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Feds Fight to Keep 'Alligator Alcatraz' Open as Site Faces 3rd Legal Challenge (Connecting the Dots: U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, Duke University, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Kimberly Cheatle, Letitia James & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Newsmax.com

Monday, 25 August 2025 05:51 PM EDT

(AP)

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/florida-immigration-ice-detention-center/2025/08/25/id/1223884/

The federal government over the weekend asked a judge in Miami to put on hold her ruling ordering the winding down of an immigration detention center built by the state of Florida in the Everglades wilderness and nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” pending an appeal of her decision.

Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security said in their request for a stay that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams' order last week, if carried out, would disrupt the federal government's ability to enforce immigration laws. They asked the judge to rule on their request by Monday evening.

The request came as a third lawsuit challenging practices at the facility was filed Friday by civil rights groups who claimed the state of Florida had no authority to run an immigration detention center.

In a statement supporting the request for a stay, Garrett Ripa, field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's enforcement and removal operations in Miami, said that the Everglades facility's 2,000 beds were badly needed since detention facilities in Florida were overcrowded.

“Its removal would compromise the government’s ability to enforce immigration laws, safeguard public safety, protect national security, and maintain border security,” Ripa said.

The environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lawsuit led to the judge's ruling, opposed the request.

The judge said in her order that she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can’t bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property.

Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued that further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials complied with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit claimed the facility threatened environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars spent over decades on environmental restoration.

The detention center was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades. State officials signed more than $245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1.

President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.

A second lawsuit also was filed by civil rights groups last month against the state and federal governments over practices at the Everglades facility, claiming detainees were denied access to the legal system. Another federal judge in Miami last week dismissed parts of the lawsuit which had been filed in Florida's southern district and then moved the remaining counts against the state of Florida to the neighboring middle district.

Civil rights groups last Friday filed a third lawsuit over practices at the facility in federal court in Fort Myers, asking for a restraining order and a temporary injunction that would bar Florida agencies and their contractors from holding detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz.” They described “severe problems” at the facility which were “previously unheard-of in the immigration system.” Detainees were being held for weeks without any charges, they had disappeared from ICE's online detainee locator and no one at the facility was making initial custody or bond determinations, the civil rights groups said.

“Lawyers often cannot find their clients, and families cannot locate their loved ones inside ICE’s vast detention system,” the civil rights attorneys said. “Detainees have been prevented from accessing attorneys in numerous ways. Detainees without counsel have been cut off from the normal channels of obtaining a lawyer."

Immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and the private contracts hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility, the civil rights groups argued in asking that their lawsuit be certified as a class action.

The civil rights attorneys described harsh conditions at the facility, including flooding, mosquitoes, lack of water and exposure to the elements as punishment. At least 100 people already have been deported from the facility, including several who were pressured to sign voluntary removal forms without being able to consult with attorneys, they said.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison in north Florida.

Judge Kathleen M. Williams

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_M._Williams

Connecting the Dots:

Judge Kathleen M. Williams is United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and graduated from Duke University with her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in History.

Jack O. Bovender Jr. is a trustee at Duke University and was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Tallman Trask III was an EVP for Duke University and is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

James L. Vincent was a trustee at Duke University and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Letitia James is the chair for the Committee on Economic Development and the Attorney General of New York.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Donna S. Morea was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and an EVP for the CGI Group Inc.

CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.

Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.

Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative is Obamacare and on July 21, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Kathleen M. Williams to replace United States District Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Bruce A. Karsh is a trustee at Duke University, a co-founder for the Karsh Family Foundation and was an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

Karsh Family Foundation was a funder for Duke University.

Thomas E. Donilon is a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and the White House deputy national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration.

Danielle C. Gray is a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and was the assistant to the president for the Barack Obama administration.

Derek Douglas was a special assistant for urban affairs for the Barack Obama administration and an associate at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

Walter E. Dellinger III is a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and a professor at Duke University.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas was an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and is the secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the Joe Biden Administration.

U.S. Secret Service is a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Kimberly Cheatle is the 27^th director for the U.S. Secret Service and served as Senior Director in Global Security at PepsiCo.

Larry D. Thompson is the EVP of governmental affairs, general counsel & secretary for PepsiCo, Inc. and is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is the founder of the Soros Fund Management.

Thomas E. Donilon was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the White House deputy national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP, is the chairman for Blackrock and married to Catherine Russell (Jill Bidens Chief of Staff).

Zoe Baird is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and was a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

William T. Coleman Jr. was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and a senior partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

Ronald A. Klain was a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and the chief of staff to the vice president for the Barack Obama administration.

Walter E. Dellinger III is a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and a professor at Duke University.

Judge Kathleen M. Williams graduated from Duke University with her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in History and is United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Barack Obama on July 21, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Kathleen M. Williams to replace United States District Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and his signature policy initiative is Obamacare.

Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.

CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.

Donna S. Morea was an EVP for the CGI Group Inc. and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Letitia James is the chair for the Committee on Economic Development and the Attorney General of New York.

Jack O. Bovender Jr. was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and is a trustee at Duke University.

Tallman Trask III is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and was an EVP for Duke University.

James L. Vincent was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development and a trustee at Duke University.

Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.

CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.

Donna S. Morea was an EVP for the CGI Group Inc. and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Letitia James is the chair for the Committee on Economic Development and the Attorney General of New York.

Resources: Past Research

Muslim Call to Prayer to be Chanted Every Friday at Duke University (Past Research on Duke University)

Sunday, January 18, 2015

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/01/muslim-call-to-prayer-to-be-chanted.html

Rep. Jordan to Letitia James: Comply or Face Subpoena (Connecting the Dots: Judge Juan Merchan, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Matthew Colangelo’s Wife Anne Kimberly Small, Jonathan Soros, Lisa Gilford, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Laurence Fink, Jerome Powell & Soros Funding, All Networking) (Past Research on Letitia James)

Sunday, June 22, 2025

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2025/06/rep-jordan-to-letitia-james-comply-or.html

BlackRock Pulls Ad Showing Gunman From Trump Rally (Connecting the Dots: BlackRock, Soros Fund Management, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Catherine Russell (Jill Biden’s Chief of Staff), Kimberly Cheatle, U.S. Secret Service, PepsiCo & Soros Funding, All Networking) (Past Research on O'Melveny & Myers LLP & Alejandro N. Mayorkas)

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2024/07/blackrock-pulls-ad-showing-gunman-from.html

Think Tank Tells Dems to Ditch 45 'Woke' Words (Connecting the Dots: The Third Way, The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, Kimberly Cheatle, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Politico, The Center for American Progress & Soros Funding, All Networking) (Past Research on O'Melveny & Myers LLP & Alejandro N. Mayorkas)

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2025/08/think-tank-tells-dems-to-ditch-45-woke.html