A federal judge may pause operations at Alligator Alcatraz as protests grow and nonprofits sue over conditions and impact.

A group of Florida Democratic state lawmakers was blocked from entering the Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention facility in the Everglades Thursday, despite citing legal authority for an official legislative site visit.

A state-run detention facility for migrants has opened in the Florida Everglades. Alligator Alcatraz - that is the official name - was assembled in eight days and opened on July 1. President Donald Trump visited the remote site on opening day, built at an old runway near the Miami-Dade and Collier county line.