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Florida’s attorney general asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow it to proceed with enforcing a controversial immigration law that seeks to criminalize the arrival or reentry of illegal migrants to the state — teeing up yet another high-stakes, immigration-focused court clash between the Trump administration and immigration advocates.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asked justices on the high court to intervene immediately and allow the state to implement Senate Bill 4C, or the Florida law that seeks to criminalize the arrival of undocumented immigrants who had been previously been deported, or who were previously denied entry to the U.S.
That law was blocked earlier this year by a federal judge in Miami. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also declined to lift the injunction, paving the way for Uthmeier to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
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Uthmeier on Monday urged justices to reverse the federal court’s injunction, which he described as detrimental to both state and national interests.
“Illegal immigration continues to wreak havoc in the state while [the] law cannot be enforced,” Uthmeier’s office said in the filing Monday.
Absent Supreme Court intervention, Uthmeier argued that 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.”
The request comes after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued an injunction earlier this year blocking Florida from enforcing the law, which she described as likely unconstitutional, and conflicting with existing federal laws.
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This was opposed by Florida’s attorney general, who argued Monday that “nothing in [S.B.C] poses a conflict with federal law.”
That failed to convince Judge Williams, however.
Williams, an Obama appointee, took the extraordinary step of initiating contempt proceedings against Uthmeier earlier this month for allegedly violating her injunction and allowing police to make arrests under the law.
Uthmeier, meanwhile, argued Monday that the Supreme Court should intervene and reverse the lower court rulings, which he described in his appeal as a measure “designed to protect future victims of the violence, drugs, and trafficking fueled by the entry and re-entry into Florida of unauthorized aliens.”
“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,” he said.
It is unclear if the Supreme Court will take up the case.
The emergency appeal from Florida’s attorney general comes at a time when the Supreme Court is already weighing six emergency applications from the Trump administration, including on weighty issues such as birthright citizenship, universal injunctions, and Trump’s executive branch authorities, among other things.
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