US judge blocks Florida law that bars transporting migrants into state
Source: Reuters
May 22, 2024 4:27 PM EDT Updated 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge temporarily blocked part of a Florida law on Wednesday that imposes criminal penalties for willfully transporting people who lack legal immigration status into the state. The law, which took effect in 2023, amended the crime of human smuggling to classify such cases as felonies.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman cited testimony from the plaintiffs that they were "now too afraid to travel in and out of Florida with their undocumented friends or family members - for fear of being arrested or prosecuted or of having their family members deported."
Altman, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, blocked the law pending the outcome of a lawsuit by the Farmworker Association of Florida and seven people who say they have been impacted. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, made immigration a central theme of his failed presidential campaign and has continued to prioritize the issue, a top concern for voters in the run-up to the Nov. 5 U.S. elections.
The Florida law also allocated funds to move migrants without lawful status out of the state, restricted access to ID cards, and required more businesses to use an electronic system to validate a person's eligibility to work. The litigation only challenged the part of the law dealing with transport of migrants.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-temporarily-blocks-part-florida-law-targeting-migrant-transport-2024-05-22/
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