MIAMI — A detainee who filed a lawsuit against the Florida Everglades immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz has requested dismissal of the case agreeing to be removed from the United States.

“Petitioner is no longer detained at Alligator Alcatraz, he has formally agreed to be removed, and he will soon have left the United States. Petitioner has accordingly decided not to continue pursuing this action,” lawyers wrote in a motion filed in federal court.

In August, the detainee, identified only as M.A. and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, filed a lawsuit in Florida’s Middle District Court, challenging the authority of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to operate an immigration detention center, arguing that immigration enforcement is a federal, not a state, responsibility.

In the complaint, the lawyers said that detainees at the facility in the middle of the Everglades wetlands were being held without removal charges, not appearing on ICE’s online detainee locator and lacked proper access to their lawyers.

The lawsuit also alleged that M.A., who has been in the United States since 2018 and is married to a U.S. citizen and has five stepchildren, was hospitalized twice for “acute medical issues” while detained at Alligator Alcatraz and was pressured by officers to sign an English-only form he could not read.

“M.A. entered the facility able to walk, but he is now in a wheelchair,” the lawsuit said.

The civil rights lawyers had requested a preliminary injunction in December barring the state from holding detainees at the site. A federal judge denied that request, saying lawyers did not provide enough evidence.

The DeSantis administration has maintained that the Department of Homeland Security authorized Florida, under its 287(g) agreements, to assist with immigration enforcement. The agreements allow state and local governments to act as federal immigration agents.

Florida has the largest number of such agreements in the nation, with 5,935 officers involved across 119 different law enforcement agencies, according to a December report from the Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement.

When the Everglades detention center, the first of its kind, began holding detainees in July, lawyers were unable to get access their clients, and detainees did not appear on ICE’s online locator. Since then, lawyers have been able to meet with their clients via video conferencing, and detainees at the site appear online as being held at the “Florida Soft Side South” facility.

The lawsuit brought by M.A. was one of three legal challenges against the site. In another lawsuit brought by the civil rights lawyers, they argue that First Amendment rights of detainees at Alligator Alcatraz continue to be violated.

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit alleging the state and federal governments failed to conduct a necessary environmental assessment before rapidly constructing the site in just eight days. Although a federal judge initially sided with the groups in August, ordering the site to close, an appeals panel later overturned that decision.

The DeSantis administration has touted Florida as an example of how states should be assisting the federal government’s mass deportation mandate. In August, the state opened another facility, the Deportation Depot, in North Florida.

At a press conference last week outside the North Florida detention facility, DeSantis announced plans for a third state-run immigration facility in the Florida Panhandle.

©2026 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.