MIAMI – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld a federal judge’s order on Friday blocking a new Florida immigration law adding criminal penalties to undocumented adults in the state.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued the injunction on April 4 after a class action lawsuit filed on April 2 sought to stop Florida Senate Bill 4-C, which makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for an undocumented adult to enter the state.
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier appealed the injunction and later faced a contempt of court accusation that his defense attorney fervently denied.
During a recent hearing, Williams said Uthmeier’s April 23 letter about her injunction “can be read as inviting” law enforcement to ignore her order.
Attorney Jesse Panuccio, who represented Uthmeier, claimed the Florida attorney general did not enforce the state law and there wasn’t evidence that a law enforcement officer had acted on the letter.
Read the letter by the Florida AG