Cable News Clips

Finding that the government ran afoul of environmental and administrative requirements, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction that bars further construction or the bringing of new detainees to the site. Her order also calls the continued operation of the existing facilities into question, by giving the government 60 days to remove fencing, lighting fixtures, and “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project.”

Williams noted that her order doesn’t stop the government from making modifications or repairs to existing facilities for safety or to mitigate environmental or other risks.

The Obama appointee wrote that politicians have historically pledged to support the protection of the Everglades and that her order “does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.”.....

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida joined the suit as plaintiffs, asserting their own interests for having “lived in and cared for the land now known as the Big Cypress National Preserve (the ‘Preserve’) since time immemorial.” The tribe explained that, “For generations, the Miccosukee people made pilgrimages from north Florida to the Everglades, including the Preserve, to fish, hunt, trap, and hold sacred ceremonies.” Williams’ preliminary injunction specified that the removal of fencing she ordered is “to allow Tribe members access to the site consistent with the access they enjoyed before the erection of the detention camp.”

Conditions at the site were described in a separate lawsuit as “harsh and inhumane,” with detainees allegedly “told that they are only allowed one meal a day (and given only minutes to eat), are not permitted daily showers, and are otherwise kept around the clock in a cage inside a tent.” The administration has denied all allegations of inhumane conditions.