Supreme Court blocks part of Florida’s immigration law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday left in place a lower court decision that blocked part of a Florida law making it a crime for undocumented immigrants to cross into the state. The statute imposed various mandatory prison terms for violating the law.
The high court’s action came in a one sentence order, without any elaboration and without any noted dissents.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state legislation into law in February, and just two months later the law made national headlines when Florida’s Highway Patrol arrested Juan Carlos Lopez-Garcia, an American-born U.S. citizen, for crossing into the state from Georgia. Lopez-Garcia was detained for 24 hours before his release.
Immigrant rights organizations and undocumented immigrants sued, arguing that the new Florida law conflicted with federal immigration law, and under longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states must bow to federal law in the event of such conflicts.
Florida, however, maintained that state legislation is necessary to curb the “evil effects of immigration,” and that state law works in tandem with federal law. Until now, however, the Supreme Court has held that federal law occupies the immigration field if there is a conflict.
Florida is not the first state to pass a law to criminalize illegal immigration, only to be blocked by the federal courts. In recent years, federal judges have blocked similar state efforts in Oklahoma, Iowa, and Idaho—each time deciding that a state law criminalizing illegal immigration would conflict with existing national laws. In 2024, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Texas’s efforts to enforce a similar law.
While Wednesday’s Supreme Court order blocked parts of the Florida law championed by DeSantis, the immigration issue remains a winning proposition for the governor. In May, he announced that in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Florida led a “first-of-its-kind statewide operation” arresting more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants in less than a week.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring an Audio Editor
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring an Audio Editor to join our award-winning team covering important regional stories across Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
