The Trump administration initiated the transfer of detainees from the privately-run South Louisiana Correctional Center, nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz," following a judge's order mandating the gradual cessation of its operations.

The facility, notorious for its remote location and allegedly harsh conditions, housed immigration detainees.

The judge's ruling, stemming from a lawsuit alleging substandard care and violations of detainees' rights, compelled the government to relocate the individuals held there.

The transfer process, though ordered, was not without its complexities.

Logistical challenges included finding suitable alternative detention facilities with sufficient capacity to absorb the transferred population.

The administration faced criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.

Advocacy groups expressed concerns that the relocated detainees might face similar or even worse conditions in their new facilities, highlighting the ongoing struggle for humane treatment within the immigration detention system.

Conversely, some critics argued the administration was moving too slowly, and that the judge's order should have been implemented more expeditiously.

The move marked a significant development in the ongoing legal battles surrounding immigration detention practices in the United States, underscoring the judicial scrutiny facing private facilities contracted by the government.

The incident underscored the persistent debate about the ethics and legality of immigration detention, and the conditions in which detainees are held.

The long-term consequences of the facility closure and the subsequent detainee transfers remained to be seen, with lasting implications for both immigration policy and the oversight of private prisons.

The Department of Homeland Security has begun moving detainees out of a controversial, state-run immigration detention center in the middle of the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," days after a federal judge ruled that parts of the facility must be dismantled.

The detainees are being transferred to other immigration detention centers, DHS said in a statement Wednesday, blaming a court order from an "activist judge" that it called "another attempt to prevent the President from fulfilling the American people's mandate to remove the worst of the worst."

"DHS is complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities. We will continue to fight tooth-and-nail to remove the worst of the worst from American streets," DHS said in a statement to TheNews.

Earlier Wednesday,  reported a top Florida emergency official had told a South Florida rabbi last week that Alligator Alcatraz would likely be empty "within a few days."

The facility, run by Florida's state government on a largely abandoned airstrip, is part of a by the Trump administration to ramp up the number of immigration detention beds by partnering with Republican-led states willing to aid its escalating mass deportation efforts.

Republican officials in Indiana and Nebraska have also offered to convert state prisons into immigration detention centers, and the Trump administration has been eyeing similar facilities in other states.

The administration has cast "Alligator Alcatraz" as a cost-effective way of holding immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and the treacherous terrain around the site could serve as a deterrent. But described inhumane conditions at the facility, including a lack of access to water, scarce and unsanitary food and limited access to attorneys — allegations that federal and state officials have denied.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams an indefinite stop to all new construction at "Alligator Alcatraz" and barred the transfer of new detainees to the facility. She also directed state officials to remove all fencing, light fixtures, generators and certain other equipment at the site within 60 days, siding with environmental activists who said the facility skirted federal environmental laws. 

The ruling did not require the facility to be shut down immediately.

Florida's state government Williams' ruling last week. Late Wednesday evening, Williams to halt her ruling pending appeal, rejecting a request by the Trump administration and Florida.

In her new order Wednesday, Williams said federal and state officials had failed to present "new evidence" showing the detainees at "Alligator Alcatraz" are particularly dangerous or that a pause in operations at the facility would thwart immigration enforcement efforts.

"Alligator Alcatraz" is also the subject of two other lawsuits. One of them alleges that detainees have been unable to meet with their lawyers confidentially. A federal judge earlier this month one part of the suit that alleged the government had prevented detainees from filing legal challenges by not making clear which immigration court oversaw the facility, but he left the rest of the suit intact — though he moved the case from Miami to Orlando.

Another lawsuit alleges the state of Florida does not have the legal authority to operate an immigration detention center.