How a detention center awoke a decades-old environmental fight
By Meghan Bowman
January 6, 2026 at 11:05 PM EST
The fight against the Everglades' immigration detention center is not the first time the land has been at the heart of environmental controversy.
An immigrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” sits in the middle of the Everglades. Several environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe are suing to close it.
But this is not the first time the land under the detention center has been at the heart of environmental controversy.
In the 1960s, plans to build the world’s largest jetport there took shape. An environmental awakening led to new laws and agencies, the creation of Big Cypress National Preserve, Regional Planning Councils, and may have sparked the first Earth Day. The public pushback ultimately stopped all construction at the site. One of the only things left was a single runway to be used as a training airport.
Now, the airstrip has been converted into a detention area with rows of tents to hold thousands of immigrants. The lawyers fighting in court to shut down the detention center are using the same laws enacted after construction of the jetport was stopped.
Your Florida presents this full-circle story told through an audio feature and a five-part digital spread. Follow along in the fight to preserve the Everglades through this comprehensive timeline highlighting key moments that reignited the conservation effort.
But this is not the first time the land under the detention center has been at the heart of environmental controversy.
In the 1960s, plans to build the world’s largest jetport there took shape. An environmental awakening led to new laws and agencies, the creation of Big Cypress National Preserve, Regional Planning Councils, and may have sparked the first Earth Day. The public pushback ultimately stopped all construction at the site. One of the only things left was a single runway to be used as a training airport.
Now, the airstrip has been converted into a detention area with rows of tents to hold thousands of immigrants. The lawyers fighting in court to shut down the detention center are using the same laws enacted after construction of the jetport was stopped.
Your Florida presents this full-circle story told through an audio feature and a five-part digital spread. Follow along in the fight to preserve the Everglades through this comprehensive timeline highlighting key moments that reignited the conservation effort.