Alligator Alcatraz Emissions Threaten Human Health, Violate Clean Air Act, Lawsuit Claims

A new federal lawsuit contends emissions at the Everglades migrant detention site known as Alligator Alcatraz, associated with more than 200 diesel-burning generators and 100 diesel-burning lighting towers, are harmful to human health and the environment and violate the Clean Air Act.

The litigation, filed May 27 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, accuses the state Division of Emergency Management of unlawfully constructing the facility without acquiring a permit under the Clean Air Act. The process for obtaining such a permit requires a detailed air quality analysis and public involvement, so that the would-be polluter can implement pollution controls, according to the complaint filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group.

The site’s continuously running generators, responsible for powering a facility large enough to accommodate 3,000 detainees along with 1,000 workers and more than 400 security personnel, emit various pollutants such as carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter. The pollutants can lead to health problems including cancer, asthma attacks, cardiovascular disease and premature death, and they also stand to affect air quality and visibility in Everglades National Park, roughly seven miles away, the complaint said.

The state opened the detention site in early July 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The facility, composed of a series of tents, is on a remote air strip surrounded by the Big Cypress National Preserve and lands of the Miccosukee Tribe. The lawsuit names Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, as the sole defendant.

The emissions are a concern for those incarcerated at the site and Miccosukee Tribe members who live in 10 villages within a three-mile radius of the facility, said Ryan Maher, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. One village is a mere 1,000 feet from the site.

“The pollution that we’re talking about here would be the equivalent of hundreds of diesel trucks driving around them,” Maher said of the detainees and Miccosukee exposed to the pollution. “The state essentially built a power plant that runs on diesel in the middle of one of America’s first national preserves, which is already fragile in terms of its ecosystem and air quality, and they did so in blatant disregard for the Clean Air Act.”

The complaint calls for the state to discontinue operating the generators and lighting towers until a permit is secured. The document also calls for a civil penalty against the state of up to $124,426 a day per violation, which would be paid to the U.S. Treasury. Maher acknowledged the “circular nature” of the penalty and said the situation was embedded in the law. The state Division of Emergency Management did not respond to a request for comment on the litigation.

The lawsuit represents the latest legal action over the detention site. Other litigation has accused the state and federal governments of unlawful activity involving the treatment of detainees and environmental impacts on the delicate Everglades. A state-commissioned environmental assessment, made public earlier this year as part of more than 3,000 records released in the environmental case, raised concerns about air pollution at the site along with greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for warming the global climate.

The state reportedly plans to close the facility as soon as early June, although state and federal officials have not confirmed the plans. U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) released a statement this week after visiting the site, saying “it is very apparent operations are winding down. Staff even used terms like ‘decompressing’ and ‘winding down’ and they are currently not accepting any new detainees. I even saw flights taking off to transfer detainees to other detention facilities. But what stuck out the most to me, is on my past visits the processing center was full of staff and detainees and this time it was completely empty – which clearly shows this facility is no longer operating at the capacity it once did.” 

The state did not respond to a request for comment on the potential closure.

Betty Osceola lives in a Miccosukee village three miles from Alligator Alcatarz. She worried about how the air pollution would affect her and her grandkids and wildlife such as the endangered Florida panther, the official state animal, now and in the future. She also felt frustrated the public never had a chance before the detention site was built to document the air quality in the area.

“How do you document change when you don’t have a baseline? And that opportunity was bypassed with the state rushing to do what they did,” she said. “Now after the fact it’s going to be really difficult to ascertain all the impacts that this detention center has created, on site and in the surrounding area.”