Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded with fury and vigor to the federal judge who ordered that he dismantle his famous and much-touted “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center for illegal migrants, declaring that he and Florida remain “committed to the mission” of helping President Trump carry out his mandate of fixing the illegal immigration problem.
As background, on Thursday, August 21, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama-era appointee, ruled that Florida had to dismantle Alligator Alcatraz, requiring the removal of the fencing, lighting, and generators that make it an effective facility for detaining migrants.
In her order, Judge Williams demanded the removal on environmental grounds, and said the state must not only immediately halt construction, but remove the lighting, generators, and fencing within 60 days. The ruling was appealed, and the appeal will be heard by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
Gov. DeSantis and other state officials vowed defiance in response. Specifically, DeSantis said during a Friday, August 22, event in Panama City, Florida, that he thinks Judge Williams was biased in her decision and is trying to enforce activism from the bench rather than rule in favor of the rule of law.
Beginning, the Florida governor slammed the district court judge as being an activist judge, an accusation thrown at many judicial enemies of the MAGA movement. He said, “This is a judge that was not going to give us a fair shake. This was preordained, very much an activist judge that is trying to do policy from the bench.”
Continuing, he insisted that Judge Williams and her rulings would not deter him or Florida officials generally from advancing the deportation mission to keep Americans safe. He declared, “This [ruling] is not going to deter us. We’re going to continue working on the deportations, advancing that mission.”
In addition, Gov. DeSantis noted during his Friday speech in Panama City that the illegal immigration problem is a major one because the Biden Administration let it go unchecked for so long. He declared, on that point, “You have people that are in this country that have already been ordered to be removed by the current system, and yet the previous administration didn’t want to do anything about it.”
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Adding to that, the governor noted that now he is trying to help the administration enforce the law, but the judge is trying to block him. He said, “We’re now in this position where we’re leading the state efforts to help the Trump administration actually enforce the law and actually remove these illegal aliens from not just Florida, but from our country.”
Watch him here:
Posting on X about a week prior to his speech and the ruling that precipitated it, Gov. DeSantis commented on the new facility he is opening in addition Alligator Alcatraz: Deportation Depot. He began, “Great to be in Sanderson today to announce that Florida’s new Deportation Depot will begin housing, detaining, and processing illegal aliens for deportation, in coordination with federal authorities.”
He added, noting the geographic distribution that makes having two such facilities make sense, “With Alligator Alcatraz operating in South Florida and Deportation Depot authorized in North Florida, we are ramping up our capacity to deport more foreign criminals every day. Florida will always stand for the rule of law and put the safety of our citizens first.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video