The Miccosukee Tribe is teaming up with environmentalists to stop the first state-run migrant detention center in the Everglades, known as Alligator Alcatraz, according to federal court records.
The complaint, filed in federal court Friday, argues the state of Florida and the Department of Homeland Security are altering protected lands with historic, cultural and spiritual significance.
WATCH: Tribe argues federal and state government are violating historic lands
Attorneys for the tribe also argue the federal government didn’t perform required environmental studies before building the facility, which reiterates arguments made by attorneys for an environmental group that originally filed the suit.
“The tribe attaches historic, cultural and spiritual significance to the areas affected by the construction and operation of the TNT Site,” attorneys for the tribe wrote. “The Miccosukee people have lived in and care for the land now known as the Big Cypress National Preserve since time immemorial. The tribe and its ancestors occupies, traveled and utilized resources within it ancestral lands, including what is now the preserve. The Tribes cultural resources and sites are historically and culturally interrelated and interconnected throughout its ancestral lands generally, including the Preserve, Everglades, National Park, Water Conservation Area 3-South, the Miccosukee Reserved Area and the Miccosukee Reservation.”
State
The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida wants to join lawsuit against Alligator Alcatraz
The tribe also filed an agreement between the Seminole Tribe, the National Park Service, Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida State Historic Preservation Office, where the National Park Service said in January 2024 that “administered lands in the preserve contain numerous historic properties and these properties are archaeological, historical, of tradition and/or cultural importance to Native American Tribes in the region and by their very nature are non-renewable resources and of great worth to the American public."
Attorneys for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) argued the tribe and the environmental groups, who started the lawsuit over environmental concerns, filed the suit in the wrong federal court division.
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the case in the Southern District of Florida because enough of the land is in Miami-Dade County. FDEM argues the the suit should have been filed in the Central District of Florida because the facility is in Collier County.
A judge will hear those arguments and could make a possible decision at a hearing set for Wednesday. Both sides are preparing multiple witnesses and documents to present to the court.
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