FLORIDA — Florida will no longer be allowed to enforce a controversial new immigration law. It comes after the Supreme Court denied the state's emergency appeal.
Our Michael Hoffman sat down with an immigration attorney to break down what this means.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court shot down Senate Bill 4-C. The law made it a crime for anyone who entered the United States illegally to enter or remain in the state.
The Supreme Court shot it down, saying that immigration enforcement and the laws surrounding it are federal, not state responsibilities
“It's not up to the states to try to regulate it or create laws or enforce, you know, laws that deal with immigration when it's a matter of federal jurisdiction,” said immigration attorney Richard Hujber.
Hujber said that his main concern with the law is how broad some of the language is.
“There's so many different layers and categories of immigrants in terms of what is legal,” said Hujber. “What is someone that's here illegally, someone that's pending in court, who's not necessarily legal yet, but as a good asylum case pending, is that someone that should be, you know, encountered or ensnared in all this.”
He also notes that Attorney General James Uthmeier says they need the law because of the “deluge of illegal immigration,” but says since Trump took office, that argument doesn’t work.
“Where were they under Biden, if there really was a huge concern about this when this invasion was actually happening, where were they?” asked Hujber. “Why weren't they trying to do this? Because part of this decision today talks about it's no longer an emergency, and frankly, it's not an invasion, and it certainly hasn't been for several months now.”
“So what happens next?” asked WPTV’s Michael Hoffman.
“I mean, in this specific case,” Hujber said. “I think they're going to have the war arguments in October. I think the case is going to go forward, and there's going to be a determination as to whether this violates the whole notion of immigration being exclusively a matter of federal law and federal jurisdiction. And I think that's going to be fascinating.”
