TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Some law enforcement officials continue to indict people under Florida law that prohibits people living in the United States from entering the state illegally, despite federal judges halting enforcement while challenged in court.
Two more people were arrested and charged in July, according to reports that are required to be filed as punishment contrary to the judge’s ruling.
Both men were arrested by a sheriff’s officer in Sarasota County, on the state’s southwest coast. The charges come months after Miami District Judge Kathleen Williams first halted state law enforcement.
As punishment for being found in civil contempt, disrespectful of her order and in punishment, the judge requested that Florida Attorney General James Usmierer submit a report on whether arrest, detention or law enforcement action has been carried out under the law.
In separate cases on July 3 and July 28, the men were respectively charged with driving without a valid license related to driving under the influence of alcohol and without a crime. According to the status report, the Judicial Circuit Office of the 12th Judicial Circuit dismissed illegal immigration charges against them and requested that adjudicate the arrest officers in court orders halting the enforcement of the law.
A Uthmeier spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In another court filing, immigrant rights advocates filed the suit questioned whether state officials justify retaining detainees in an isolated immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades, known as “Crocodile Alcatraz.”
Advocate’s lawyers provided the court with emails apparently sent by immigrants and customs enforcement officials to the offices of Congress members, saying they rely on the legal authorities granted by the lockdown laws.
“ICE emails raise serious concerns about a potential violation of a large court injunction,” a lawyer for an immigration rights group wrote, asking the court to order the state to explain to the state under the legal authority that holds people at the Everglades facility.
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Kate Payne is a legion of the Associated Press/America Statehouse News Initiative report. Report for America is a non-profit, national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on infiltrated issues.
