Judge denies request to block Florida law criminalising driving illegal migrants
Published:Wednesday | August 9, 2023 | 1:25 PM
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Civil rights groups asked a federal judge Tuesday to stop Florida officials from enforcing a section of a new state immigration law that criminalises transporting someone who has entered the United States unlawfully.
But the jurist denied the request immediately on a technicality.
The portion of the law known as Section 10 makes it unsafe for people to get to medical appointments, meet with family and go to work, the groups said in a motion that is part of a July lawsuit challenging the law.
“For many individual Plaintiffs, Section 10 interferes with their ability to go about their daily lives,” said the motion, which asks for a temporary injunction halting enforcement.
Almost immediately after it was filed, US District Judge Roy Altman denied the request for a temporary injunction on a technicality, saying Governor Ron DeSantis and other defendants who include prosecutors from across Florida hadn't been properly given notice about the motion.
The judge said the civil rights groups could file the request again.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Miami, argues that Florida's law is unconstitutional because federal law preempts state law when it comes to immigration; that it ignores due process rights; and that it was written vaguely.
In their motion Tuesday, the civil rights groups used as examples a woman who risked arrest by driving her grandson, who has a pending petition for immigration relief, and a Catholic deacon who drives people in his car to immigration-related appointments.
“This law's only purpose is cruelty. It threatens Floridians with jail time for doing the most ordinary things, like visiting family, going to work and driving kids to soccer games,” said Spencer Amdur, an attorney at the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project.
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