The Miccosukee Tribe’s lawsuit contesting an immigration detention facility in the Everglades cost them federally funded flood protection, at least if President Donald Trump gets his way.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed HR 504, federal legislation intended to provide flood protection to Osceola Camp, a Miccosukee residential area in the Everglades. In his veto letter, the president blamed the tribe for having “actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected.”
“My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding projects for special interests, especially those that are unaligned with my Administration’s policy of removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the country,” Trump wrote.
The tribe is part of a lawsuit against the state, claiming planners behind the immigration detention facility, also dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” failed to follow federal environmental regulations in constructing the 3,000-bed facility.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Republican from Miami, sponsored the bill, the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act, passed by both chambers of Congress via voice votes.
The bill called upon the Secretary of the Interior and the tribe “to take appropriate actions to safeguard structures within the Osceola Camp from flooding events.”
The Osceola Camp in the Everglades is a residential area for the Miccosukee tribe but not part of the federally reserved area for the tribe.
The bill, introduced nearly a year ago, four days before Trump’s second term began, also would’ve expanded the Miccosukee Reserved Area to include the Osceola Camp.
Gimenez’s office said the bill would help with “strengthening the Tribe’s governance and enhancing infrastructure within the community.”
“This bipartisan legislation ensures that the Miccosukee tribe has the legal authority to manage, protect, and preserve their land, and continue their traditional way of life,” Gimenez said on the House floor in July, going on to say the bill “is about fairness and conservation.”
Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and key promoter of the detention facility, welcomed Trump’s veto.
“Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation. This principle carries especially heavy weight here; it is not the Federal Government’s responsibility to pay to fix problems in an area that the Tribe has never been authorized to occupy,” Trump wrote.
The bill does not have a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate.
At the same time, Trump announced he had vetoed HR 131, Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. That measure, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, addressed federal support for a water pipeline in Colorado.
Colorado Newsline, a Phoenix affiliate, reported:
“Trump’s veto, the first of his second term, was roundly criticized by Colorado Democrats as another act of retaliation against the state for its ongoing incarceration of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted on state charges related to breaking into the county’s voting machines to prove unfounded claims of widespread election fraud in 2020.
“The veto followed the administration’s announcement earlier this month that it would dismantle Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research, and its denial of two disaster declaration requests that would have opened up federal funding to support wildfire and flood recovery in the state.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
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