Supreme Court Deals Setback to State-Level Immigration Enforcement
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to allow Florida to enforce a state law criminalizing illegal immigration, delivering a blow to the state’s efforts to enact its own immigration policies. The unsigned order, issued without explanation or noted dissents, upholds a lower court’s injunction preventing the law from taking effect.
Florida’s law, passed in February, sought to make it a crime to “knowingly enter or attempt to enter” the state after illegally entering the U.S., with a first offense carrying a potential nine-month prison sentence. The state had petitioned the Supreme Court in June to lift a federal district court judge’s injunction that has kept the law on hold.
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier had argued in the state’s application that “illegal immigration continues to wreak havoc in the State while that law cannot be enforced.” He contended that without the Supreme Court’s intervention, Florida and its citizens would remain “disabled from combatting the serious harms of illegal immigration for years as this litigation proceeds through the lower courts.”
Uthmeier further noted that the law was a direct response to murders committed by undocumented immigrants, alongside “reports of rampant fentanyl trafficking and other devastating harms killing Florida’s citizens and destroying their communities.”
Seventeen state attorneys general, led by Iowa Attorney General Eric Wessan, filed a brief in support of Florida, asserting that states “retain immigration-related police powers.” They argued that “Florida’s law does not conflict with federal law, so it is not obstacle preempted,” and described it as a “complementary enactment.”
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The Supreme Court’s decision maintains the precedent that immigration enforcement largely falls under federal jurisdiction, echoing previous rulings that have blocked similar state-level immigration measures in other states like Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Iowa.
The ruling comes just days after President Donald Trump appeared alongside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on July 1 for the opening of “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new facility in the Everglades designed to detain illegal migrants. The facility, proposed by Attorney General Uthmeier, was touted by President Trump during the press conference as a deterrent.
“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is, really, deportation and a lot of the people are self-deporting back to their country where they came from,” Trump stated, adding that FEMA funds, previously allocated for hotel rooms, were repurposed to build the detention center.
While the Supreme Court’s order does not represent a final judgment on the constitutionality of Florida’s immigration law, it ensures the law will remain unenforceable as legal challenges continue in lower courts. This ongoing litigation highlights the persistent tension between state and federal authority over immigration policy in the United States.
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