In the heart of the Miccosukee, the Native American tribe that shut down Alligator Alcatraz

But the Miccosukee don’t oppose the detention center just because it’s “a showcase of cruelty.” For decades, the tribe has been at the center of several legal disputes that have set precedents for how U.S. courts interpret tribal sovereignty, environmental law, and the taxation of Native Americans. In 1982, for example, the tribe sued the state of Florida for illegal land grabs, resulting in the Florida Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, a law that extinguished land claims in exchange for thousands of acres held in trust. In 2004, they challenged Miami’s pumping of sewage into the Everglades, a case that highlighted the Miccosukee’s role in defending the ecosystem and influenced the national debate on water transfers.

Water has been the focus of many of their conservation efforts. The fragile ecosystem has been altered since the last century by urbanization and agriculture, particularly by the diversion of water from its natural course from Lake Okeechobee, north of the peninsula, to Florida Bay, a process that can take months or years.