Border czar Tom Homan said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation operations would continue after Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility was ordered to be shut down within 60 days.
The Trump administration was handed a legal setback on Thursday after a federal judge ordered the shutdown of the large-scale detention facility, saying it violated a federal law that requires an environmental review before any major federal construction project. Florida immediately appealed the decision, which requires the removal of all migrants housed at the facility, as well as generators, fencing, and other construction materials.
Homan addressed the decision for the first time on Saturday, largely appearing unconcerned about it potentially hampering the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans, especially as more facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz” are in the works.
“They’re not going to stop us doing what we’re doing. We’ll follow the judge’s order and we’ll litigate and we’ll appeal it. But [the] bottom line is, we’re going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats every day across this country,” he said in an interview with NewsNation.
Homan added that migrants could simply be moved to another facility, though he did not specify where that would be.
“If we have to send them to another facility. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s why the president has asked for 100,000 beds in the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ So, we’re going to build 100,000 beds, so we’re not going to have a lack of bed space,” the border czar said.
He also slammed Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who issued the order, as “radical,” echoing other remarks from Florida officials including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who blasted Williams as an “activist judge that is trying to do policy from the bench.”
FLORIDA JUDGE ORDERS ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ MIGRANT FACILITY SHUT DOWN WITHIN 60 DAYS
DeSantis has been optimistic that the state’s appeal will succeed, however.
“We’re not going to be deterred; we’re totally in the right on this,” he said on Friday. “This is not going to deter us. We’re going to continue working on the deportations, advancing that mission.”
The case will play out in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, with a court date not yet set.
