Government shutdown prevents Alligator Alcatraz closing

A federal appeals court has granted the U.S. government’s request to pause proceedings in a lawsuit challenging the controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in the Florida Everglades. An earlier court decision ruled that the facility should close by the end of September because its operation violated federal environmental laws protecting the Everglades. The decision, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, freezes legal efforts by conservation groups seeking to halt operations at the facility built within the ecologically fragile Big Cypress National Preserve until funds have been restored. “Alligator Alcatraz,” officially known as the Big Cypress Detention and Processing Center, is a vast swath of wetland adjacent to critical habitat for the Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi), as well as other endangered species. The Everglades is the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere and the largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie.