MIAMI — In a significant judicial move, a judge in the federal court ruled that a hold placed on Florida’s newly enacted immigration law decidedly included all local law enforcement agencies, countering recent statements from the state’s attorney general. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, at a hearing in Miami, indicated her intent to impose a preliminary injunction against a state statute deemed problematic. The law, signed in February by Governor Ron DeSantis, a keen supporter of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, criminalizes undocumented migrants who bypass immigration authorities upon entering the state. Trump’s initiatives, however, frequently find themselves entangled in legal challenges at the federal court level.
The initial court action began when the Florida Immigrant Coalition, among other advocacy organizations, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), filed a lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, on April 4, Judge Williams placed a 14-day temporary restraining order, especially after the Florida Highway Patrol reported detaining over a dozen individuals, including a U.S. citizen, under the new law. The legal challenge asserts the statute violates the Supremacy Clause within the U.S. Constitution, which strictly divides state and federal powers.
In Tuesday’s proceedings, considerable attention focused on a memo circulated by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, contrary to the court order, suggesting law enforcement might not need to adhere to the judicial directive. Jeffrey DeSousa, representing the attorney general’s office, argued that judicial orders should only bind the named parties within a lawsuit. Judge Williams questioned the practicality of allowing law enforcement to make arrests without probable cause if prosecutors could not pursue charges, an idea not directly addressed by DeSousa.
The defense further contended that the groups opposing the law should have specifically listed each of the 373 law enforcement departments in their legal filing, rather than focusing solely on the attorney general, the statewide prosecutor, and Florida’s 20 state attorneys. ACLU lawyer Oscar Sarabia Roman countered, noting the infeasibility of involving every law enforcement body separately, but asserting that the court’s ruling should naturally extend to restrain police actions statewide.
After the judge extended her order on April 18, Uthmeier initially issued a memo advising law enforcement communities to abstain from applying the law, despite his opposition. However, this was rapidly followed by another memo just five days later, where Uthmeier argued against the judge’s jurisdictional ruling, stating he lacked the authority to stop local agencies from enforcing the law. Interestingly, no further detentions have been reported since this secondary directive from Uthmeier.