Attorney General Alan Wilson declares victory as court rules to keep ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility open

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson today released the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted Florida’s request to stay a lower court ruling that would have shut down its new detention facility for illegal immigrants, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

“This is a major victory for common sense, the rule of law, and state sovereignty. The Eleventh Circuit recognized what we argued in our multistate brief, that federal environmental laws like NEPA cannot be twisted into political weapons by activists to stop states from protecting their citizens,” said Attorney General Wilson. “South Carolina stands with Florida and every other state who is on the front lines of the border crisis. States must have the ability to defend their communities and keep dangerous criminals off their streets.”

Attorney General Wilson joined 21 other states earlier this year in filing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Eleventh Circuit to reverse the district court’s injunction, which had ordered Florida to dismantle the facility within 60 days. The Eleventh Circuit agreed with the states’ arguments that NEPA is a procedural statute, not a tool for activists to shut down lawful state projects, and that no federal action had occurred that would trigger its requirements.

You can read the full brief here.

You can read the Eleventh Circuit’s decision here.