Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Florida’s top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the middle of the Florida Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction.

Florida's top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as Allig