No airports. No rock mines. No prisons. Only Everglades.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Good Morning Keys Dems! Below is Councilman Steve Friedman's newsletter that clearly describes how you can help. Please HELP!
Dear friends,
By now we've all heard about this appalling 5,000-person deportation prison — the so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" — being hastily and recklessly assembled in the Everglades by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier.
Let us speak plainly:
Housing 5,000 people in the Everglades is an asinine idea that will cause catastrophic damage to the River of Grass and ultimately Florida Bay.
As globally acclaimed Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher said, "When someone says we are going to put 5,000 people in the middle of the Everglades and says there will be no impact, they’re crazy."
The Everglades — a protected UNESCO World Heritage site — is a fragile ecosystem that we have fought to restore for decades! The very survival of Florida Bay depends on fresh water filtering through the Everglades.
The waters that flow through the River of Grass are also the key economic engine for all of south Florida, generating $31.5 billion for our local economies each year, according to a Miami Herald report just last week! Every hotel, restaurant, dive shop, bait shop, boat yard, charter operation, etc. depends on a healthy and pristine Florida Bay and Everglades.
Now, the State of Florida is embarking on massive operation that will traumatize our waters and endanger our local economy.
Folks, we must fight back. Here are three easy steps every Floridian can take to make our voices heard:
#1 Write to the Governor & Attorney General.
"Over 25,000 folks have already signed onto this letter from Friends of the Everglades reminding Gov. DeSantis and A.G. Uthmeier that "more than 50 years ago, Floridians rallied to stop the Everglades Jetport, protecting a vital stretch of wilderness from destructive development. Today, that same land is under threat again..."
WRITE TO THE GOVERNOR AND ATTORNEY GENERAL
#2 Hold our south Florida politicians accountable.
Every two years politicians promise us they will protect our waters. Well, now is exactly when we need them to speak up!
State Rep. Jim Mooney brags about "protecting water quality and our environment"... State Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez wants to protect "precious under water ecosystems for future generations"... and, Congressman Carlos Gimenez recently vowed to "protect our cherished River of Grass."
So far, these three have been silent.
We need to call them and demand their rhetoric match their actions. Demand they speak out against the Everglades prison!
CALL REP. MOONEY: (305) 315-0780
CALL SEN. RODRIGUEZ: (305) 407-2552
CALL REP. GIMENEZ: (305) 222-0160
#3 Support the Friends of the Everglades law suit.
"On June 27, 2025, Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County regarding a reckless plan for a massive detention center in the heart of the Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz”... — Friends of the Everglades
... "The defendants, in their rush to build the center, have unlawfully bypassed the required environmental reviews... The direct and indirect harm to nearby wetlands, wildlife and air and water quality, and feasible alternatives to the action, must be considered under NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] before acting..." — Fox News
DONATE TO FRIENDS OF THE EVERGLADES
Someone told me recently that in these turbulent political times there are two types of politicians — those who choose to fight... and those who choose to fold.
We choose to fight. Our campaign was about guarding against overdevelopment and protecting our water — and that's what we will continue to do.
And, as a backcountry fishing guide, I know how fragile the Florida Bay and the Everglades ecosystems are to dangerous runoff and contaminants. Just ten years ago a massive seagrass die-off in Florida Bay almost cratered our entire tourism-driven economy.
We know you will choose to fight too. Thank you for helping us apply pressure against this ludicrous and dangerous proposal!
Once again, it's #NowOrNeverglades.
Stay vigilant,
Capt. Steve Friedman
Village of Islamorada councilman
Everglades updates and images from last week:
WATCH: Famed Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher speaks out about Alligator Alcatraz — CBS Miami
... "When someone says we are going to put 5,000 people in the middle of the Everglades and says there will be no impact, they’re crazy... You can’t do this. It is wrong… anybody that says this is not going to effect the Everglades has got something wrong with their brain… and their heart"… — Clyde Butcher
… Mary Ellen Klas says the dehumanizing plan lacks teeth: “As a policy, building a tent city in a fragile swamp during hurricane season doesn’t make much sense, but Uthmeier needed a publicity stunt. The little-known politician has held the job for six months and is facing a serious election challenge... — by Jessica Karl, Bloomberg
Florida’s ‘Everglades prison ignores both environment and history
... Florida’s recently appointed attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced that he had a pretty snazzy idea: Build the state’s biggest immigrant detention center in the middle of the Everglades... I predict Uthmeier’s next brainstorm will call for transforming Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ historic home in Coconut Grove into a big public urinal. For toilet paper, he will no doubt provide copies of Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law… — by Craig Pittman, Florida Phoenix
Florida author Carl Hiassen speaks out
No surprise that the "Alligator Alcatraz" scheme is coming from James Uthmeier, the governor's crown prince of dumb ideas... A special Everglades prison for undocumented migrants will be even more costly and useless, with an added DeSantis bonus of damaging our unique and vital wetlands. Miami-Dade officials should do everything possible to stop this bad joke from hatching into something truly terrible for South Florida.
Citizens react as activities and traffic increase at "Alligator Alcatraz" with supplies & other deliveries
Supplies are being delivered into the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area... — News-Press
Big planes can land?!?
… "Big planes can land," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, the mastermind behind the plan [said]... [The site] sits on roughly 39 square miles of swamp west of Miami, its sole runway stretching about 10,499 feet—long enough to handle mid-sized jets... — Newsweek
An "asinine idea." — WLRN
... "Anything that happens even in the north of the Everglades affects us here in the Florida Bay... This asinine idea of creating this detention center for immigrants and also housing for the guards and security and staff in this area is beyond the realm of any sort of basic logic or reality"… — Steve Friedman
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Paid by Steve Friedman | PO Box 676 | Islamorada, FL 33036 US