Alligator Alcatraz

Florida lawmakers approved significant new guardrails Friday for the multibillion-dollar emergency fund that Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration used to construct and operate the sprawling immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz."

The Florida House renewed but again added limits to the governor’s emergency spending fund. But with just days left in session, the Senate hasn’t signed on.

The concerns originate in a state-commissioned environmental assessment on the Everglades detention site, which has detained thousands of migrants since opening last summer.

On "The Florida Roundup," Eve Samples with Friends of the Everglades discussed the organization's lawsuit against the state for "Alligator Alcatraz" and more.

This week on "The Florida Roundup," we looked at state spending at the immigration detention center near the Everglades, visited a small citrus farm in Central Florida and more.

Florida emergency officials say the fire does not threaten the state-run immigration detention facility called "Alligator Alcatraz."

A Colombian legislator joined local clergy and immigrant advocates on Sunday in demanding Alligator Alcatraz be closed and detainees released to end what they describe as a "national and international" human rights crisis.

They filed statements with a federal court that their clients cannot call them using staff cellphones. They also say they still cannot make unannounced visits.

The demonstrators want state and federal authorities to close the immigrant detention center, free detainees and end "the immoral" apprehension of immigrants by federal agents.

Prolonged detention has become more common in President Donald Trump’s second term, at least partly because a new policy generally prohibits immigration judges from releasing detainees while their deportation cases wind through backlogged courts. The number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention has topped 70,000 for the first time.

U.S. government attorneys call the funding plans 'legally insufficient.'

Meanwhile, government attorneys say a reimbursement agreement isn't even finalized.