Jackie Llanos

U.S. Democratic representatives characterized the state-run immigrant detention center in the Everglades as a cruel and wasteful political stunt following a guided tour Saturday. Members of Congress and state legislators who visited the site described seeing bugs on mattresses, toilets and showers that lacked privacy, small food portions, and temperatures between 83 and 85 degrees […]

The Florida Supreme Court transferred to the state trial court in Tallahassee a lawsuit filed by Democratic lawmakers seeking access to the immigrant detention center in the Everglades. The justices on Monday sent the legislators’ request for their intervention to the Second Judicial Circuit. However, the justices noted that the transfer should not be read […]

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida asked Monday to join a lawsuit to stop the further construction and operation of the state-run immigrant detention center in the Everglades. Tribal leaders had already denounced the detention center, but the motion to intervene in the suit against federal, state, and local officials, which environmental groups filed, […]

The U.S. trial judge assigned to the lawsuit to halt the state-run immigrant detention center in the Everglades recused himself on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after environmental groups asked the court to intervene. Jose Martinez of the Southern District of Florida was supposed to preside over the litigation from environmental groups alleging that construction of […]

Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to be cooling off, for now at least, on a plan to build a second state-run immigrant detention center at the Florida National Guard training site in Clay County. The governor won’t consider building another temporary detention facility at the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center until the one in the Everglades […]

People held in Florida’s immigrant detention center in the Everglades sued the Trump and DeSantis administrations on Wednesday, demanding access to their attorneys. This class action from the detainees and their attorneys adds to the mounting legal opposition to the detention center, where people started arriving two weeks ago after a speedy eight-day construction at […]

Gov. Ron DeSantis this week has been promoting his commitment to Everglades restoration amid the backlash and legal challenges to his construction of an immigrant detention center on an airstrip in the wetland ecosystem. The governor signed a new agreement with the federal government on Friday, portraying it as Florida taking the lead on Everglades […]

Environmental groups are facing hurdles in their lawsuit to stop further construction and detention of additional people at the state-run immigrant detention center in the Everglades. The federal court hasn’t and won’t act as quickly as the groups want in the litigation against the speedy, eight-day construction of the detention center on an old airstrip. […]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions in Florida rose by more than 450% this June compared to last year. Since the start of the second Trump administration, ICE has carried out more than 10,818 arrests in Florida, up from 3,496 in the same period last year. But in June, […]

Deportation flights have started at the state-run immigrant detention center in the Everglades more than three weeks after the first detainees arrived, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday. The federal government has deported 100 people held at the notorious site in an old airstrip and flown out hundreds more to other hubs, such as Immigration and […]