A federal judge on Monday dismissed portions of a lawsuit filed by detainees at the Alligator Alcatraz facility, delivering a partial victory to the Trump administration in a case centered on access to legal counsel.
U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz ruled that the administration’s decision to assign a Miami-based immigration court to oversee the detainees’ cases rendered their Fifth Amendment claims moot. The detainees had argued that their offshore detention deprived them of meaningful access to attorneys. “This is a classic case of mootness,” wrote Ruiz, who was appointed to the bench by President Trump.
While Ruiz threw out those constitutional claims, other parts of the lawsuit will continue. Allegations regarding limited communication with legal representatives and inadequate facilities for confidential meetings remain active.
Still, the judge sided with the administration in deciding that those remaining issues should be heard in the federal judicial district that covers the Alligator Alcatraz site, rather than in his Miami courtroom.
“The job of the District Court is not to rule first and ask questions later,” Ruiz wrote. “Instead, it must ensure that it is imbued with the ability to decide such a case in the first instance, pursuant to the limits on judicial power imposed by Article III and Congress’s statutory limitations on venue,” he continued.
The lawsuit is one of two significant legal challenges involving Alligator Alcatraz. In a separate case, environmental groups persuaded another federal judge to temporarily halt new construction at the facility, arguing it violates federal law. That ruling, however, has not affected the government’s ability to detain individuals at the site.
