(Hill) – Florida Attorney General James Usmier (R) asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow the state to enforce new immigration laws so that the appeal unfolds in lower courts.
The new law, SB 4-C, makes it a national crime to allow people to enter Florida after illegally arriving in the United States and avoiding immigration authorities.
“Illegal immigration continues to wreak havoc in the state, but the law cannot be enforced,” Usmeyer’s office wrote in the application.
“And without this court intervention, Florida and its citizens will continue to be prevented from fighting the serious harms of illegal immigrants over the years as this case is progressing through lower courts.”
Two anonymous individuals who live illegally in Florida, the Florida Immigration Coalition and the Florida Farmers Association, sued the law.
Former President Obama’s appointee, US District Judge Kathleen Williams, has agreed that it would likely be preempted by federal immigration laws and unconstitutional.
Florida’s Supreme Court efforts have refused to unblock the state’s appeals as they progressed, after a three-judge panel in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The state argues that the law is coordinated to avoid disputes with federal immigration authorities.
“Nothing about SB 4-C brings conflict with federal law. On the contrary, Florida law closely tracks federal law. SB4-C, likewise, does not violate dormant commercial provisions, as it is not related to economic protectionism.
For comments, Oka reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union, representing the plaintiffs.
Last year, the Supreme Court allowed Texas laws to take effect, crossing states illegally across the border to the states, and denied blocking Biden’s administration’s request for emergency orders on an upfront basis.
Florida’s request will be added to what is an emergency facility already stuck at the Supreme Court.
The judiciary is pondering six pending emergency applications from the Trump administration. The three will call for partial enforcement of the president’s executive order on birthright citizenship, while others will deal with his deportation policy and efforts to restructure various federal sectors.
Two death row inmates scheduled to be executed in Florida and Mississippi this week have called for emergency intervention from the court.
