The facility was constructed “with no or minimal federal involvement,” and Homeland Security could not “control the outcome of the project.” 42 U.S.C. § 4336e (10)(B)(i)(II); see also United States v. S. Fla. Water Mgmt. Dist., 28 F.3d 1563, 1573 (11th Cir. 1994) (holding that a project cannot be called federal “when the state agencies retain their state law authority to make the decisions concerning the project”). As the Secretary explains, Florida officials retained final authority over every decision regarding the project, from “the size of the detention facility” and “how many beds it has” to “who will build it, or what materials will be used.” Indeed, if Florida officials decided to stop building or to dedicate the land to address a new emergency, such as hurricane relief, federal officials could not overrule them.
