MIAMI— Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a legal reply brief on July 3 in support of their motion for a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop activity at so-called “Alligator Alcatraz.” The massive immigration detention center is being constructed at breakneck speed in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve and threatens the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades.

Since the groups filed the lawsuit on June 27, more destructive activities have been observed at the site, including new paving, light pollution visible from miles away and apparent pesticide spraying.

While the facility is marketed as being temporary the evidence suggests that isn’t true. Previous unimproved sections of the area have been filled and paved, roads have been added and expanded and the night sky over Big Cypress now has a glow that is visible 15 miles away, the lawsuit states.

Florida panthers have been geolocated to the site, the site is within critical habitat for the Florida bonneted bat, and the preserve is designated as an International Dark Sky Park.

“Caring about America’s clean water, public lands and human wellbeing is patriotic, not political,” said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I would hope this administration doesn’t believe these important values — embraced by millions of Floridians — are reserved to any one political party.”

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity are nonpartisan, not-for-profit organizations working to protect the Everglades from the threat of water and light pollution and other harm posed by this detention center and to protect endangered species on the site surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve.

“Our country’s national parks are considered ‘America’s best idea’ — and this mass detention center in the heart of the Everglades is one of America’s worst ideas,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “The federal government and state of Florida advanced this plan with no environmental analysis, no public input and no regard for Americans’ widely held desire to safeguard national parks.”

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent further damage and force the state and federal government to undertake a detailed environmental impact study, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The need for an injunction has only grown more urgent since the original lawsuit was filed June 27.

Parts of the planned detention center have been built in eight days without any of the environmental review required under federal law and the public has had no opportunity to comment, which the law also requires before such a major undertaking.

The groups originally filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court to protect the Everglades from a reckless plan to house thousands of detainees on a lightly used airstrip known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, two hours west of Miami and one hour west of Naples.

The suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County.

The Everglades is the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere, the largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie, and the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America. In 2010 it was designated as an endangered UNESCO World Heritage site.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity are represented by Scott Hiaasen, Paul Schwiep, Earthjustice and Center attorneys.