A federal judge in Miami has ordered Florida and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop expanding the migrant detention camp known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and to begin dismantling much of the site within 60 days. The 82-page preliminary injunction bars the transfer of any new detainees to the Everglades facility and requires existing inmates to be relocated during the wind-down period. Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that the state-run compound, built this summer at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, was erected without the environmental reviews required under federal law. Her order instructs officials to remove industrial lighting, generators, sewage systems, fencing and other infrastructure once the population falls, while allowing only safety-related repairs to the remaining dormitories. The decision came in a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe, which argued that construction threatened endangered wildlife and sensitive wetlands. State documents show Florida raced to build the camp in June, touting it as a model for President Donald Trump’s stepped-up deportation drive. The center was designed to house up to 3,000 detainees—some filings cite eventual capacity of 5,000—at an estimated cost of about US$450 million a year. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis immediately appealed, calling the ruling “preordained” and pledging that deportations “will continue.” He also confirmed plans for a separate 1,300- to 2,000-bed facility in Baker County, dubbed “Deportation Depot.” The Department of Homeland Security has joined the appeal, and the state is expected to seek a stay that would keep the Everglades site operating while litigation proceeds. For now, however, the court order represents a significant setback to one of the most visible elements of the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy and a notable victory for environmental advocates who have fought for decades to protect the Everglades’ fragile ecosystem.