DeSantis’ step toward victory on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ sets up a funding dilemma for Florida

ORLANDO Fla AP Florida Gov Ron DeSantis is facing a funding dilemma over the immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz built in the Florida Everglades Last week an appellate court panel temporarily blocked a lower court decision ordering the governor s administration to wind down operations at the facility But the ruling sets up a predicament The state can either pass up federal reimbursement for hundreds of millions of dollars spent to build and operate the facility or take the money and face an environmental review which would hazard halting the center s operations That s because a majority of the three-judge appellate panel decided for the time being that the facility doesn t have to undergo a federally required environmental impact review normally needed to build on sensitive wetlands Why Because Florida has yet to receive federal money for the project despite administrators having promised it If Florida takes the federal money then the state may need to conduct the environmental analysis the judges wrote in their -to- decision U S Homeland Safeguard Secretary Kristi Noem disclosed on social media this summer that the facility would largely be funded by FEMA s shelter and services activity The law makes clear that the absence of federal funding renders an action non-federal and not subject to an environmental review the appellate panel majority noted The decision stayed a preliminary injunction by U S District Judge Kathleen Williams ordering the detention facility to wind down operations by late October while the development made its way through court The stay is in effect pending appeal Here no federal dollars have been expended on the construction or use of the facility the appellate panel explained So the Florida-funded and Florida-operated detention programs occurring at the site do not conceive a major federal project either When demanded Tuesday about whether the appellate panel s decision would impact the state s application for federal funding the governor s office didn t provide a direct answer Instead press secretary Molly Best sent video clips of DeSantis talking about Alligator Alcatraz on social media and in an interview with FOX host Sean Hannity DeSantis didn t discuss funding in either clip DeSantis administration in late June raced to build the facility on an isolated airstrip surrounded by wetlands to aid President Donald Trump s efforts to deport people living in the U S illegally Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups around the nation as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations Other states have since broadcasted plans to open their own immigration detention centers The environmental lawsuit is one of three federal lawsuits challenging operations at the detention center in the Everglades A second Florida immigration detention center opened last week at a closed prison in north Florida Florida taxpayers should not foot the bill for federal immigration services revealed Paul Schwiep an attorney representing Friends of the Everglades one of the environmental groups that sued Florida and the U S authorities Judge Williams inferred the governor when he commented the federal establishment would fund the work and maintained Secretary Noem when she stated the same Meanwhile the majority on appeal essentially commented we can t believe politicians when they make such statements Elise Bennett a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity another environmental group that is a plaintiff in the lawsuit noted she saw another possibility in the ruling that would allow the DeSantis administration and DHS to have their cake and eat it too The appellate majority is signaling that a federal agency can withhold reimbursement until a project is completed and by the time they formalize that payment the damage is done and the analysis has little to no value Bennett explained