(The Center Square) — A federal judge in Miami imposed a temporary restraining order on Thursday on construction of the migrant detention facility dubbed by Florida officials as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, a President Barack Obama appointee, issued the restraining order, which stops any construction at the site, but allows it to continue to accept migrants.

The reasoning was possible environmental damage from the site, which is built on the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.

Florida Gov. DeSantis said on X that “Operations at Alligator Alcatraz are ongoing and deportations are continuing.”

He also said on Aug. 1 that 600 migrants have been processed through the facility, which has drawn protests from human rights groups and Democrats concerned over rights violations and poor treatment of detainees at the facility. 

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is named in the lawsuit filed by two environmental groups, the Friends of the Everglades and the Center For Biological Diversity, along with the Miccosukee Tribe. The lawsuit says the facility is in violation of National Environmental Protection Act and the Administrative Procedure Act because no environmental impact statement was sought for the facility.

“The hasty transformation of the site into a mass detention facility, which includes the installation of housing units, construction of sanitation and food services systems, industrial high-intensity lighting infrastructure, diesel power generators, substantial fill material altering the natural terrain, and provision of transportation logistics (including apparent planned use of the runway to receive and deport detainees) poses clear environmental impacts,” the complaint reads. 

The 30-square mile airport owned by Miami-Dade County is located roughly 60 miles east of Miami near the Everglades National Park. Its 10,000-foot-long asphalt runway was used for military training exercises and was intended to be part of Miami’s new airport before a public outcry halted construction in 1970.

(The Center Square) – Establishing a tax credit program of up to $1,700 in 2027 for North Carolina school children has a historical pathway to overcoming gubernatorial veto, according to pattern analysis by The Center Square.

No permits for concealed carry, however, is quite a bit more challenging.

Outside of the fatigued question on the Legislature putting forth a full two-year spending plan, those two vetoes and three others tied to diversity policies are creating the main storylines for the Legislature’s return next week. The pre-Labor Day session has no guarantees of movement on any; rather, all will depend on chamber leaders having members present and their votes known as to what opportunities will be taken.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, in the House of Representatives have pledged to get the timing right, whether next week or later.

Eight vetoes were overridden into law by both chambers on July 29. They included measures on immigration, what was known as the REINS Act, environmental goals, powers of the state auditor, clarifying men and women, donor privacy, and firearms.

Senators completed the override on four more – two related to diversity policy, one on permitless concealed carry and another on immigration. If the House can get the override for a third diversity bill that originated in its chamber, the Senate is expected to follow suit.

The other two vetoes involve a squatters bill that went an alternative route to first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s signature, and the federal school choice initiative championed by second-term Republican President Donald Trump.

Plenty of attention was rightly thrust upon the four Democrats in the House of Representatives helping move the Grand Old Party agenda this summer. Reps. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County six times and Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County five times were most instrumental. Twice each, Reps. Cecil Brockman of Guilford County and Nasif Majeed of Mecklenburg County were on board to get the chamber’s overrides to 72 votes or higher.

For each of the eight vetoes that got an override, at least one Democrat in the House had voted for the measure at passage. Only once – Brockman on donors – did a yes vote switch to no. And once – Rep. Ben Moss, R-Richmond, on the power bill – a Republican changed a no vote to yes at override.

That would bode well for the push – Educational Choice for Children Act (House Bill 87) – to make North Carolina the first in the nation codifying the signature education initiative of the president. Cunningham and Willingham were each on board, though Republicans had three excused and another – Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore – choosing not to vote.

It doesn’t bode well for becoming the 30th state to be without permit for concealed carry.

Freedom to Carry NC, known also as Senate Bill 50, not only had no Democrats in the House at passage, but it also has Republican Reps. William Brisson of Bladen County and Ted Davis Jr. of New Hanover County with no votes at passage. Ten other Republicans took excused absences, including notably Rules Chairman John Bell of Wayne County, Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County and Rep. Allen Chesser of Nash County.

The North Carolina Border Protection Act, known also as Senate Bill 153, was straight party line. The 11 excused absences among Republicans included notables Cotham and Rep. Erin Pare, R-Wake.

For the package of bills on diversity, equity and inclusion, the proposals would respectively take them out of state agencies, K-12 education, and higher education. None drew a Democrat’s vote in either chamber.

On the Republican side, Reps. Jackson, John Blust of Guilford County, Brenden Jones of Columbus County and John Sauls of Lee County had excused absences for all three votes; Hall and Rep. Edwin Goodwin of Chowan County chose not to vote on the higher ed bill; and Rep. Mike Clampitt of Swain County chose not to vote on the state agencies bill.

Six other Republicans also had excused absences mixed among the three votes.

Three-fifths majorities are needed in each chamber to get an override, both chambers must accomplish it, and there’s only one override vote per bill. Republicans have majorities of 30-20 in the Senate and 71-49 in the House.

And votes at passage are not guaranteed through veto override. Never was that clearer than the 2023-24 session when a bill related to evictions sailed through the chambers 44-0 and 113-1, only to be vetoed by former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. It became law on the strength of override votes of 27-17 and 72-44.

Already on the eight overrides this session, six senators and 12 House members have changed votes at least once from yes at passage to no at override. Respective chamber leaders at three each are Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, and Rep. Charles Smith, D-Cumberland. One senator and four House members have already made such changes twice each.

In the 2023-24 session, all 29 vetoes by Cooper were overridden amid 19 senators and 34 House members changing votes at least once between passage and override.

(The Center Square) – Job approval by likely North Carolina voters for Gov. Josh Stein is robustly high and for President Donald Trump running just a tick better than national polling.

Stein, the first-term Democrat with eight years experience as attorney general prior, has dropped a net 15% in five months to 50.5% approving against 30.1% disapproving. In March, approval was 55.6% to 20.4% disapproving, according to a poll taken Monday and Tuesday and released Thursday by Carolina Journal in conjunction with Harper Polling.

His most significant actions in that time have been 15 vetoes and a two-year budget proposal about $2 billion higher than either chamber of the General Assembly. Eight of his vetoes have been overturned, and Friday marked the 46th day late on the spending plan.

Given choices for what Stein’s vetoes reflect, respondents said “a careful approach to policy that checks overreach by the legislative branch” (36%); “a politically motivated obstruction that blocks legislative priorities” (32.9%); and 31% were unsure.

The statewide sampling gave the second-term Republican president an approval of 47.8% and disapproval of 50.3%. In March, he was at 49.5% approval and 48.7% disapproval. Nationally this week, the RealClear Polling average for the time period of July 16 to Thursday is 45.5% approval and 51.5% disapproval.

Trump has won the state in presidential races three consecutive times.

The Carolina Journal/Harper polling of 600 likely voters’ responses were given a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of +/= 3.98%.