Florida has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to enforce a new immigration law that lower courts temporarily blocked in April. The law makes it a misdemeanor for individuals to enter the state of Florida if they are in the United States illegally, granting law enforcement the authority to arrest them upon entry.
Immigration law faces legal challenge
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the immigration measure into law in February. It creates a new criminal offense for anyone who enters Florida after unlawfully crossing the U.S. border. Federal law classifies crossing into the country without legal permission as a civil offense.
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A U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction in April, which halted enforcement after immigration advocacy groups, including the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworker Association, filed a lawsuit.
“Florida’s SB 4C is not just unconstitutional — it’s cruel and dangerous,” Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement. “This law strips power from the federal government and hands it to state officers with no immigration training or authority, threatening to tear families apart and detain people who have every legal right to be here. Our communities deserve safety, dignity, and due process — not politically motivated attacks.”
The judge indicated the law is likely to be found “unconstitutional.” The lawsuit alleged that the measure violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which deems federal laws as the supreme law of the land.
Now, Florida has filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision and allow enforcement to continue while the legal challenge is underway.
Inside the emergency filing to SCOTUS
In the emergency filing, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier argued the lower court’s decision “inflicts irreparable harm on Florida and its ability to protect its citizens from the deluge of illegal immigration.”
The filing states, “Without this Court’s intervention, Florida and its citizens will remain disabled from combatting the serious harms of illegal immigration for years as this litigation proceeds through the lower courts.”
Contempt ruling raises stakes in legal battle
The state’s attorney general was held in contempt of court last week in connection with the case. A federal judge ruled that the Florida official had violated the court’s injunction by telling law enforcement officers he could not prevent them from enforcing the immigration law.
The dispute now heads to the Supreme Court, which will decide whether to hear the case and potentially allow Florida to resume enforcement of the law.
contributed to this report.