U.S. Supreme Court rejects Florida's appeal to enforce controversial immigration law

Yahoo

09-07-2025

WASHINGTON − Florida can't enforce a controversial new law targeting undocumented immigrants entering Florida, the Supreme Court determined on July 9 in rejecting an emergency appeal from the state.
"The application for stay presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," the order says.
There is no written opinion and no justices dissented.
The decision leaves in place a lower court's pause on the law while it's being challenged.
Senate Bill 4C, passed during a legislative special session in the spring, made it a state felony for certain immigrants to enter Florida. DeSantis called the special session to pass legislation to help carry out President Donald Trump's immigration policies and his mandate for mass deportation.
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the law is needed to protect residents from "the deluge of illegal immigration."
"If a State's police powers are powers at all, they allow a State to criminalize harms destructive to the community," he wrote.
The attorney general's office and the governor's office have not yet responded to questions for comment from the USA TODAY NETWORK.
Seventeen states told the Supreme Court they're backing Florida's position as did the Trump administration.
Trump, who recently visited the state's first immigration detention facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, has touted the Florida governor and attorney general's anti-illegal immigration efforts.
Lawyers for the immigrant rights groups challenging the Florida law said the courts have been clear that such penalties are unconstitutional because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.
And Florida has never explained why, given its "extensive and ongoing collaboration with federal enforcement efforts," the state should be allowed to run its own immigration system as the law is being litigated, they said.
In June, a federal judge found Uthmeier in civil contempt because of a letter he sent in April to police after the law was paused.
Uthmeier argued that the order should only apply to him and local state attorneys because they were the named defendants in the underlying legal challenge, not law enforcement officers in Florida.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said Uthmeier violated a directive to notify police agencies that a court order barred them from enforcing the law.
In response, Uthmeier posted on X, saying: "If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump's agenda on illegal immigration, so be it."
The Florida attorney general had asked the Supreme Court to at least say the order doesn't apply to all of Florida's law enforcement officers.
USA TODAY contributed to this report. Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: U.S. Supreme Court rejects Florida appeal to enforce immigration law