Florida Legal professional Basic James Uthmeier on Monday filed an emergency enchantment to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom, asking the justices to permit the state to implement a brand new immigration legislation that criminalizes illegal re-entry into Florida.
The legislation, referred to as SB 4-C, was blocked by U.S. District Decide Kathleen Williams, who dominated it was probably unconstitutional. In her preliminary resolution, Williams issued a short lived restraining order and directed the lawyer normal to inform all legislation enforcement companies within the state that the legislation couldn’t be enforced.
Regardless of the order, Uthmeier despatched a follow-up letter to legislation enforcement officers stating that “no judicial order … correctly restrains you from” imposing the legislation and that “no lawful, reliable order at the moment impedes your companies from persevering with to implement” it. In response, Decide Williams discovered Uthmeier in civil contempt last week, writing: “Litigants can not change the plain which means of phrases because it fits them, particularly when conveying a courtroom’s clear and unambiguous order. Constancy to the rule of legislation can don’t have any different which means.”
Decide Williams additionally ordered Uthmeier to file biweekly studies detailing any arrests, detentions, or actions taken below the legislation whereas her injunction stays in place.
In his enchantment to the Supreme Courtroom, Uthmeier argued that the injunction is harming the state. “Florida is enjoined from imposing its statute to the detriment of Florida’s residents and the state’s sovereign prerogative to guard them from hurt,” he wrote. “Unlawful immigration continues to wreak havoc within the state whereas that legislation can’t be enforced. And with out this courtroom’s intervention, Florida and its residents will stay disabled from combatting the intense harms of unlawful immigration for years as this litigation proceeds via the decrease courts.”
The legislation, handed earlier this yr, makes it a criminal offense for folks dwelling within the U.S. unlawfully to “knowingly enter or re-enter Florida” after getting into the nation by “eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.” State officers say the measure helps federal immigration enforcement efforts and is in keeping with federal legislation.
Nevertheless, two migrants dwelling unlawfully in Florida, together with the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworker Affiliation of Florida, sued Uthmeier and 20 state attorneys, arguing that the legislation is preempted by federal legislation and violates the U.S. Structure.
Uthmeier defended the measure in Supreme Courtroom filings, calling it a “measured effort” by the state to guard its sovereignty. He wrote that lawmakers enacted the legislation in response to “devastating harms killing Florida’s residents and destroying their communities.”
Signed into legislation on February 13, 2025, by Governor DeSantis, SB 4-C and its companion invoice SB 2-C are a part of a broader immigration crackdown. The laws launched a spread of recent penalties and coverage modifications, together with enhanced expenses for undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes, restrictions on in-state tuition, and a controversial provision mandating the dying penalty for undocumented immigrants convicted of capital felonies, akin to first-degree homicide.
Underneath SB 2-C, undocumented immigrants who vote or help noncitizens in voting will be charged with a third-degree felony.
