A Judge Told Florida Not to Arrest Undocumented Immigrants. The State Did Anyway.

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On February 13, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would allow state law enforcement to arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants for being in the state without legal status. It was quickly paused. On April 4, United States District Judge Kathleen M. Williams temporarily blocked the law from being enforced, saying that enforcing immigration is strictly the work of the federal government.  

But law enforcement from at least one agency, the Florida Highway Patrol, continued to make arrests under the law, according to local reporting and a Mother Jones analysis. The arrests were in clear violation of Williams’ order.

At a court hearing on Friday, attorneys representing immigrant advocacy groups told Williams, the federal judge, that they know of at least 15 such arrests, the Miami Herald reported. Williams said she was “astounded” that the arrests continued in spite of her order. “When I issued the temporary restraining order, it never occurred to me that police officers would not be bound by it,” Williams said at the hearing. “It never occurred to me that the state attorneys would not give direction to law enforcement so that we would not have these unfortunate arrests.”