Appeals court lets Florida keep Everglades immigration detention center Alligator Alcatraz open for now | 4 Sept 2025 | Alligator Alcatraz, the notorious immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, will be allowed to resume operations. A federal appeals court panel in Atlanta ruled 2-1 on Thursday to stay US District Judge Kathleen's order to end operations indefinitely at the center, saying it was in the public interest to keep it open. Williams, a federal judge based in Miami, had issued a preliminary injunction last month ordering operations at the facility to be wound down by the end of October, with detainees transferred to other facilities and equipment and fencing removed... Judges Elizabeth Branch and Barbara Lagoa, both of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump, also determined on Thursday that keeping Alligator Alcatraz open is in the public interest.