Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit against federal, state and Miami-Dade County officials on Friday over the immigration detention center under construction in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” they said.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity announced that they filed the suit in federal court because the plan for the detention center did not go through the appropriate environmental review or public comment period.

“The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species. This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,” said Eve Samples, Executive Director of Friends of the Everglades, in a statement.

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