The Supreme Court dealt a blow to Florida Republicans on Wednesday by not allowing them to enforce a controversial law that effectively created a duplicative level of immigration enforcement to throw undocumented migrants out of the state.
"BREAKING: Supreme Court *denies* Florida’s emergency request to let it implement a law barring undocumented immigrants from entering the state," wrote legal observer Steven Mazie on X. "There is no written opinion. No noted dissents."
American Immigration Council fellow and frequent Trump critic Aaron Reichlin-Melnick lauded the decision and said that it was yet another rebuke to GOP efforts to persecute immigrants at the state level.
"HUGE. And also unquestionably the correct response," wrote Reichlin-Melnick. This comes soon after the 5th Circuit itself also turned away a request by Texas to put SB4, a similar law, into effect. The precedent cannot be more clear — states cannot carry out their own immigration enforcement regimes."
Florida's law, which makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to enter the state as an "unauthorized alien," already led to some arrests, including of a U.S. citizen, Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, who traveled into the state from Georgia.
That particular case was cited by a federal judge earlier this year in blocking the law's enforcement. Florida had sought the Supreme Court's help to get that block thrown out.
Initially, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier signaled his intent to keep enforcing the law despite the federal court order, which led to him being found in contempt of court last month.