Latest news with #FloridaDivisionofEmergencyManagement
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
DeSantis says all Alligator Alcatraz detainees have removal orders. Is that true?
In press conferences and on TV, top Florida officials have repeatedly said that everyone detained at Alligator Alcatraz has been ordered by a judge to be removed from the country. 'Everybody in this facility is on a final removal order,' Kevin Guthrie, the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees operations at the detention center, told reporters on Friday. But attorneys representing immigrants detained at the center say that's not true. Anna Weiser, immigration attorney at Smith and Eulo Law, said she has only had one client at Alligator Alcatraz with a final removal order so far — he was sent to the Bahamas a few days after his arrival at the facility. Three others, including one who's mentioned in a lawsuit against the state and the Department of Homeland Security for a lack of attorney access at the site, do not. One Weiser client has an immigration hearing scheduled for 2026. Another has a student visa, and was detained after he was charged with selling marijuana to a minor. The one mentioned in the lawsuit, Gonzalo Valdez, has a green card — he came to the U.S. from Cuba legally when he was six. He was on a routine probation visit after being convicted of racketeering when he was detained. None have had a final removal order stamped by an immigration judge, Weiser said. 'We have checked,' Weiser said. 'That's part of our strategy. If somebody has a final order of removal, we're going to handle the case differently than people who do not.' The Florida Division of Emergency Management did not respond to questions about Guthrie and DeSantis' comments, nor did it comment on attorneys' statements about their clients' immigration status. A final order of deportation is issued by a judge after a finding that an immigrant does not have a legal right to remain in the United States. The order directs immigration officials to remove the immigrant, though it can be appealed. It's not uncommon for a person with a final deportation order to remain in the country for months, or even years. During a Friday press conference at the facility, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Guthrie firmly doubled down on the idea that all detainees have removal orders. Republican officials like Florida House Speaker Danny Perez and newly appointed CFO Blaise Ingoglia have repeated the same. The assertions by DeSantis officials and lawmakers come as lawyers say the DeSantis administration and Trump's Department of Homeland Security are holding immigrants at the detention camp without access to the federal courts system. Magdalena Cuprys, who says only two of her seven clients at the site have final orders of removal, said the DeSantis administration could be trying to get ahead of complaints about access to legal services and the lack of an immigration court. Reopening a closed immigration case requires an attorney to file with the court that ruled on it, not with the detention center's immigration court, she said. 'If they say that everyone has a final deportation order, in theory, they have no right to a bond hearing,' Cuprys said. 'And there's no need for a court.' Three out of the four plaintiffs who are detainees in the attorney access lawsuit do not have final removal orders, said Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing those plaintiffs. One has a pending green card petition, one has a pending asylum case and one is a Cuban national appealing a rejection of adjusting his citizenship under the Cuban Adjustment Act. The statements that every person taken to Alligator Alcatraz has a final removal order are false, Cho said. 'It's very surprising that the government is making that significant of a misrepresentation about who's being held at the facility,' Cho said.
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Florida stiffed Texas company $7.5M for work on Haiti rescue flights, lawsuit says
A Texas-based company filed a federal lawsuit this week against the Florida Division of Emergency Management, alleging it is owed more than $7.5 million after the firm helped evacuate people from war-torn Haiti in 2024. TAD Recovery Services, LLC, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the federal Northern District of Florida. The lawsuit described the company's services as moving 'materials, supplies and personnel in and out of various locations around the USA and elsewhere in the world, often on an emergency basis due to catastrophic weather situations and/or rapidly developing geopolitical conflicts.' The lawsuit said the Division of Emergency Management contacted the company in March 2024 'to get involved with helping to evacuate children from the Tim Tebow Foundation in Haiti.' It said that 'morphed' into the Division of Emergency Management asking the company to provide broader services related to evacuating Floridians and other people from Haiti. The lawsuit alleges the company is owed $7,544,031. Gov. Ron DeSantis said in an April 24, 2024, news release that the state had rescued 722 Americans from Haiti.
Washington Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt 'Alligator Alcatraz' filed in wrong court, Florida official says
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. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt Alligator Alcatraz filed in wrong court, Florida official says
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. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing. 'And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade,' Guthrie said. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Florida's southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. A virtual hearing was being held Monday on the lawsuit. 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 Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for coming forward with the idea, as the department looks to significantly expand its immigration detention capacity. ___ Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @ Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt Alligator Alcatraz filed in wrong court, Florida official says
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. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing. 'And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade,' Guthrie said. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Florida's southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. A virtual hearing was being held Monday on the lawsuit. 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. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for coming forward with the idea, as the department looks to significantly expand its immigration detention capacity. Schneider writes for the Associated Press.
