Appeals court keeps 'Alligator Alcatraz' open, rejecting need for federal environmental review

An immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” will remain open, an appeals court decided Tuesday, upholding its earlier decision to block a judge's order for the facility to wind down operations because it didn't comply with federal environmental law. A majority on the three-judge panel from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals said the Florida-run facility wasn't under federal control and didn't need to comply with federal law requiring an environmental impact review. “Florida, not federal, officials constructed the facility,” a majority of the judges wrote.