17 Republican attorneys general back Uthmeier in U.S. Supreme Court brief on Florida immigration law
Republican leaders from 17 other states Tuesday filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court backing Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's push to enforce a law targeting undocumented immigrants who enter Florida.
The brief came after Uthmeier last week asked the Supreme Court to step in and at least temporarily allow enforcement of the state law after a federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction to block it.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in April ruled that the law likely was preempted by federal immigration authority. Uthmeier appealed the preliminary injunction, but a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his request for a stay of Williams' ruling.
Uthmeier last week asked for the Supreme Court to issue a stay, which would effectively allow the state to enforce the law while the underlying legal battle plays out.
Tuesday's friend-of-the-court brief, led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird's office, disputed that federal immigration laws preempt — essentially take precedence over — measures such as the Florida law. The brief also pointed to Republican-led states trying to help enforce President Donald Trump's policies.
"Indeed, every act punishable under these state laws is already a federal crime," the 16-page brief said. "And under the current administration, states and the federal government have never worked so closely together on immigration enforcement."
The brief added, "In issuing a pre-enforcement facial preliminary injunction of Florida's law, the district court incorrectly predicted that plaintiffs would likely be able to show that Florida's law conflicted with and was an obstacle to the federal government's enforcement discretion and policies."
Joining the brief were Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. Also, the Guam attorney general signed on.
The law, passed during a February special legislative session, created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida. Attorneys for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the law in April. After initially issuing a temporary restraining order, Williams issued a longer-lasting preliminary injunction to block enforcement.
The three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court on June 6 refused to issue a stay of Williams' ruling. The panel said its decision "does not definitively resolve" whether federal immigration law preempts the state law (SB 4-C), but it said Uthmeier had not met tests for a stay.
"It seems likely — given the federal government's longstanding and distinct interest in the exclusion and admission of aliens, and the (federal) Immigration and Nationality Act's extensive regulation of alien admission — that this principle is satisfied with respect to the field of alien entry into and presence in the United States," said the decision shared by Judges Jill Pryor, Kevin Newsom and Embry Kidd. "Accordingly, the attorney general has not made a 'strong showing' that the district court was wrong to conclude that SB 4-C is likely field preempted."
In asking the Supreme Court for a stay, Uthmeier's office last week argued that the state has been barred from enforcing the law amid the legal battle "to the detriment of Florida's citizens and the state's sovereign prerogative to protect them from harm."
"Illegal immigration continues to wreak havoc in the state while that law cannot be enforced," the request said. "And without this (Supreme) Court's intervention, Florida and its citizens will remain disabled from combatting the serious harms of illegal immigration for years as this litigation proceeds through the lower courts."
The plaintiffs face a July 2 deadline for filing a response to the request, according to a Supreme Court docket.
The battle over the law has been highly contentious, with Williams last week finding Uthmeier in civil contempt.
That finding stemmed from a letter that Uthmeier sent in April to police after she ordered a halt to enforcement of the law. Williams said Uthmeier violated a directive to notify police agencies that what was then a temporary restraining order barred them from enforcing the law. Uthmeier has contended Williams' rulings should only apply to him and local state attorneys, the named defendants in the case, and not to law-enforcement officers.
