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Records Show Florida Continued Immigration Arrests After Judge Told Them To Stop
A federal judge paused enforcement of a harsh anti-immigration law in April, citing the likelihood that a pending legal challenge would succeed — but Florida Highway Patrol officers continued to enforce the law and arrested at least 27 people in the weeks that followed, HuffPost has learned.
Senate Bill 4-C, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law in February, made it a state crime for people to enter Florida without legal status. In response to a lawsuit challenging the legality of the law, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted a temporary restraining order on April 4, blocking law enforcement from making arrests pursuant to SB-4C. She later converted the temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction, pausing enforcement while litigation is ongoing.
Less than two weeks after the temporary restraining order went into effect, a state trooper arrested U.S.-born citizen Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez and charged him with illegally entering the state as an “unauthorized alien.” He was detained at the local jail even after his mother produced his birth certificate and Social Security card at a court hearing. Lopez-Gomez was released the following day, but his arrest drew attention to the state’s non-compliance with Williams’ order.
After Lopez-Gomez’s arrest, HuffPost filed a public records request with the Florida Highway Patrol, asking how people had been arrested pursuant to SB-4C since the law was paused. The law enforcement agency provided report numbers for 27 arrests between April 4 and May 26. That number does not represent the total number of SB-4C arrests in the state during that time, as the Florida Highway Patrol is just one of hundreds of law enforcement agencies that were authorized to make arrests under the immigration law. At least nine of the people arrested landed in immigration detention, the Tampa Bay Times previously reported.
Senate Bill 4-C, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law in February, made it a state crime for people to enter Florida without legal status. In response to a lawsuit challenging the legality of the law, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted a temporary restraining order on April 4, blocking law enforcement from making arrests pursuant to SB-4C. She later converted the temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction, pausing enforcement while litigation is ongoing.
Less than two weeks after the temporary restraining order went into effect, a state trooper arrested U.S.-born citizen Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez and charged him with illegally entering the state as an “unauthorized alien.” He was detained at the local jail even after his mother produced his birth certificate and Social Security card at a court hearing. Lopez-Gomez was released the following day, but his arrest drew attention to the state’s non-compliance with Williams’ order.
After Lopez-Gomez’s arrest, HuffPost filed a public records request with the Florida Highway Patrol, asking how people had been arrested pursuant to SB-4C since the law was paused. The law enforcement agency provided report numbers for 27 arrests between April 4 and May 26. That number does not represent the total number of SB-4C arrests in the state during that time, as the Florida Highway Patrol is just one of hundreds of law enforcement agencies that were authorized to make arrests under the immigration law. At least nine of the people arrested landed in immigration detention, the Tampa Bay Times previously reported.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/records-show-florida-continued-immigration-193521526.html