Workers install a sign reading "Alligator Alcatraz" at the entrance to a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility on July 3, 2025, in Ochopee. | Rebecca Blackwell, AP
Published on July 11, 2025 at 10:09 am
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A group of Democratic state lawmakers — including Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville — sued Thursday for “immediate, unannounced access” to a controversial immigrant detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Along with Nixon, Rep. Michelle Rayner of St. Petersburg, Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando and Sen. Shevrin Jones of Miami Gardens petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for what is known as a “writ of quo warranto.” They argued that the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis violated Florida law when it refused to grant entry to the facility on July 3.
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The lawmakers were denied entry by four officials and told to schedule “a tour,” according to the lawsuit.
The denial of entry was “blatantly unconstitutional,” alleged the lawsuit, filed on behalf of the legislators by state Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, and Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, who are attorneys. Gantt, Bracy Davis and Rayner recently launched a law firm.
“The blatant, illegal, and cavalier nature of violation of the Florida Constitution and statutory authority puts members of the legislative and judicial branches at risk if we, those sworn to protect and defend the Constitution and rule of law, do not speak out loudly and boldly against its trespasses and transgressors,” the lawsuit said.
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The state this month began operating the detention center at a remote site surrounded by the Everglades and the Big Cypress National Preserve, as DeSantis and other Florida Republican leaders assist in Trump’s mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
The creation of the detention center has been linked to an order issued by DeSantis in January 2023 declaring a state of emergency because of “the mass migration of illegal aliens to Florida.” DeSantis has repeatedly renewed the order, which allows the state to take “necessary action” to address the declared emergency.
Florida law allows legislators and certain other state officials “at their pleasure” to visit state correctional institutions.
According to the lawsuit, Rayner repeatedly cited the law to state officials as the Democratic lawmakers tried to gain entry to the detention center. The group was denied access because of “safety reasons,” and the lawmakers were told to schedule a tour.
In an email Monday, a spokesperson for the Division of Emergency Management told the lawmakers “the legal authority cited by the Legislature does not extend to this facility in the manner requested.”
The denial of entry to the detention center “was an unconstitutional executive overreach because it prevented the duly elected members of the Florida Legislature from exercising their powers” and “restricted the legislature’s independence as a co-equal branch of government,” the lawsuit alleged.
Amid the controversy, emergency management officials on Wednesday invited state legislators — including Nixon — and members of Congress to visit the facility on Saturday, setting up a 90-minute tour restricted to lawmakers.
But the lawsuit said Florida law affords legislators “broad access” to inspect correctional facilities unannounced so they can “observe the unadulterated conditions of the facility.”
“The rule of law must be upheld. Our Constitution does not coronate a king. It is not hyperbolic to contend that the governor’s actions, directly or indirectly through the actions of agency directors and their employees, could become more far reaching into the third branch of our government,” the lawsuit said.
A state of emergency gives the governor the power to suspend laws that would “in any way prevent, hinder or delay necessary action in coping with the emergency,” the lawsuit acknowledged.
But the lawsuit said the legislators’ “attempt to exercise their right to access the facility” would not have affected the DeSantis administration’s ability to cope with the emergency.
“Emergency powers are not intended to allow the governor to suspend the powers of state legislators where exercising such statutory powers do not hinder, delay, or prevent the governor from coping with the emergency at hand,” the legislators’ lawyers argued. “This is especially the case where the petitioners sought to gain access to the facility for the benefit of transparency to the public. If interpreted otherwise, this would permit the respondents (DeSantis and Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie) to operate in extended emergency situations with unfettered oversight –- undermining the legislative intent of the State Emergency Management Act.”
The detention center, which state officials said can house up to 3,000 detainees, is also the focus of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to put the facility on hold.
The lawsuit, filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, contends that the facility should be halted because it threatens environmentally sensitive areas and species in the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve. The center is co-located with the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a remote site used for flight training.
