MIAMI — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday halting further expansion of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" that advocates said violated environmental laws.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams' injunction formalized a temporary halt she ordered two weeks earlier as witnesses continued to testify in a multiday hearing to determine whether construction should end until the ultimate resolution of the case.

The judge said that she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through transferal of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed.

She wrote the state and federal defendants can't bring anyone other t

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