The U.S. Supreme Court has quietly but decisively refused to throw a legal lifeline to Florida’s controversial immigration law—a measure that aimed to criminalize the mere presence of undocumented migrants crossing into the state. With no explanation and no dissent, the justices let stand a federal judge’s freeze on the law, halting arrests and prosecutions under its authority.
The law, passed by Florida’s Republican-led legislature and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year, would have made it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to enter Florida—regardless of federal permissions or humanitarian claims. The legislation also imposed mandatory jail time: at least nine months for first-time violators, and up to five years for repeat offenders or those with felony records.
But U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams slammed the brakes in April, calling the law a likely violation of the U.S. Constitution, which reserves immigration policy squarely for the federal government. Williams issued a preliminary injunction, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals later declined to reverse it.
Florida’s top officials, including Attorney General James Uthmeier, ran to the nation’s highest court in mid-June, urging a quick reversal. Their push was backed by America First Legal—a hardline conservative legal group tied to former Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
But the Supreme Court wasn’t moved. In a brief order with no recorded objections, the court allowed Williams’ ruling to remain intact while the underlying lawsuit plays out.
The legal challenge was spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union, representing two undocumented immigrants living in Florida, along with an immigration advocacy organization and the Farmworker Association of Florida. Their lawsuit argued that the law threatens seasonal workers and families traveling for work, regardless of federal protections or ongoing legal processes.
“This decision echoes a principle as old as it is clear: states cannot hijack immigration policy,” said Cody Wofsy of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “It’s time states stopped trying.”
Florida, however, insists its law complements federal immigration efforts, not contradicts them. But Judge Williams disagreed so strongly that she held Uthmeier in civil contempt for failing to ensure law enforcement followed the injunction. She ordered him to report every two weeks on the status of enforcement across the state.
Meanwhile, in a show of solidarity with Florida’s hardline approach, Donald Trump recently joined DeSantis on a tour of a remote, heavily funded migrant detention center in the Everglades—an austere facility nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” with space for 5,000 detainees and an annual price tag of \$450 million.
Despite the political theater and legal wrangling, one thing is clear for now: Florida’s immigration crackdown remains stuck in neutral, awaiting its fate in the lower courts.
