A federal judge has ordered major restrictions on Florida’s controversial migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” ruling that the facility can no longer admit new detainees and that its infrastructure must be dismantled within 60 days, as reported by The New York Post.

The order, issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, came in response to a lawsuit filed by several environmental organizations and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians.

The plaintiffs argued that federal agencies failed to properly assess the environmental impacts of the facility, located deep in the Florida Everglades, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Judge Williams’ ruling prohibits state and federal officials from “bringing any additional persons” to the detention site “who were not already being detained at the site at the time of this Order going into effect.”

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In addition, the ruling requires that, within 60 days and once the detainee population drops enough to allow safe implementation, officials must remove temporary fencing, lighting fixtures, and all generators, gas, sewage, and waste systems that were installed to support the camp.

The court noted that without those utilities, the site would not be able to function as a detention center.

Earlier in August, Judge Williams had already halted construction at the facility, a restriction that remains in place under the new ruling.

Alligator Alcatraz, located on 30 square miles of former Miami-Dade County airport land, was built in just eight days under an emergency order issued by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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The tent-based camp opened last month with a capacity of 2,000 detainees, with expansion plans to increase capacity to 4,000.

Environmental groups and the Miccosukee tribe contend that the detention center threatens decades of costly Everglades restoration projects and could endanger local water and food sources. They argued that NEPA requires a full federal review of such impacts before construction.

Jesse Panuccio, an attorney representing Florida, countered in an earlier hearing that the facility was a state-led project and therefore not subject to NEPA review.

However, the plaintiffs maintain that because federal agencies oversee immigration, NEPA applies regardless of the state’s role in the facility’s construction.

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In her opinion, Judge Williams wrote:

“Allowing the detention camp to continue expanding its infrastructure and operations poses an even more formidable challenge than maintaining the status quo because ‘it is difficult to change that course’ if the Court eventually decides that NEPA assessments are required.”

She added, “The construction of the facility may have taken only eight days, but the capacity of the Defendants to remedy the NEPA violations outlined will involve a longer period of time.”

The order will remain in effect while litigation continues over whether federal law was violated in the building of the camp.

The Department of Homeland Security and the office of Gov. DeSantis have not yet responded to requests for comment on the ruling.

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