This story was updated to clarify that Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, organized Sunday's protest. Friends of the Everglades were participants.
In the late 1960鈥檚, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, then 79 years old, to oppose the proposed construction of a major airport in the fragile wetlands of the Big Cypress Preserve.
鈥淚鈥檒l do whatever I can鈥� to stop it, Douglas said at the time.
On Sunday, is again taking on the government. This time it鈥檚 a fight against a proposed plan by state officials to build a massive immigrant detention center to house and process suspected undocumented immigrants on the site of an unused airport facility in the Everglades.
The influential environmental group is taking part Sunday in a planned protest organized by Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The demonstration is being helf from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the jetport, 54575 Tamiami Trail, Ochopee, 34141.
鈥淭his site is sacred, a multi-generational home to Florida鈥檚 native people, and is no home for a damaging, unnecessary prison,鈥� Friends of Everglades posted on its Facebook account.
鈥淪how Florida鈥檚 leaders we do not stand for the destruction of the Everglades,鈥� wrote the group. 鈥淣o airports! No rock mines! No prisons! ONLY EVERGLADES.鈥�
Friends of Everglades were successful in halting the project in 1969 but not before a runway was built at what is now the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. It was supposed to be the world鈥檚 largest airport and replace Miami International Airport.
The site covers nearly 25,000 acres with 900 acres of 鈥渄eveloped and operational land,鈥� according to Miami-Dade officials.
READ MORE: 'Alligator Alcatraz': Florida Attorney General proposes immigrant detention center in Everglades
The planned protest comes less than a week after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced his proposal to build 鈥淎lligator Alcatraz鈥� to help the Trump administration achieve its aggressive deportation strategy.
鈥淚f somebody were to get out, there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Only the alligators and pythons are waiting. That's why I like to call it 鈥楢lligator Alcatraz,鈥欌�� .
If approved by local, state and federal authorities, said Uthmeier, it said would become the state鈥檚 largest immigration detention facility and help ease the pressure on local jails and federal facilities used to hold immigrants accused of being illegally in the country.
The facility could be up and running within 60 days if local, state and federal agencies approve it, Uthmeier told the cable TV network.
"This is a really terrible idea," Eve Samples, director of Friends of the Everglades, .
"Although the attorney general is calling it temporary, the environmental harm, the traffic, human waste, water needs, none of that has been analyzed or discussed publicly," Samples said. "The attorney general is talking about this site as being abandoned, and the reason it was abandoned is because everyone banded together."
Uthmeier's plan comes at a time when the Trump administration has said it wants officers to apprehend at least 3,000 unauthorized migrants daily, up from about 650 daily during the first months of Trump鈥檚 second term.
