Florida Immigrant Coalition v. Uthmeier
- Court: U.S. District Court
- Latest Update: Jun 06, 2025
The ACLU of Florida and partners filed a lawsuit on April 2, 2025, challenging Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 4C (SB 4C), which authorizes state and local law enforcement to imprison people based on their manner of entering the country — powers the Constitution reserves exclusively to the federal government. The district court granted a temporary restraining order against the law on April 4. Certain individuals were arrested after the issuance of the TRO, and on April 18, the district court extended the TRO, explicitly including within its scope law enforcement that had the power to enforce SB 4C, and directed the Attorney General to notify those entities of the injunction. On April 29, the court granted a preliminary injunction and certified a class. Both the Eleventh Circuit and Supreme Court denied the state’s request to put the injunction on hold. Oral argument in the Eleventh Circuit is set for the week of October 6 in Atlanta. On June 17, the district court entered an order holding Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier in civil contempt for violating a notification requirement of the April 18 order. Uthmeier has appealed the order finding him in contempt.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
This novel law purports to give Florida state officials unprecedented power to arrest, detain, and prosecute noncitizens in the State of Florida. Under this novel system, the State of Florida has created its own immigration crimes, completely outside the federal immigration system. State police will arrest noncitizens for these entry and re-entry crimes; state prosecutors will bring charges in state courts; and state judges will determine guilt and impose sentences. The federal government has no control over, nor any role at all in, these arrests and prosecutions.
Case Summary: Along with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project and Americans for Immigrant Justice, we filed a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s new extreme anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 4C (SB 4C), which authorizes state and local law enforcement to imprison people based on their manner of entering the country — powers the Constitution reserves exclusively to the federal government.
The lawsuit is brought on behalf of the Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF), the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), and individual plaintiffs — including longtime Florida residents with pending federal immigration applications and with U.S. citizen family members who rely on their care.
What's at stake: Under SB 4-C, people who entered the country without inspection could be arrested and jailed simply for crossing into Florida — even if they have since gained lawful status, and even if they had not committed any crime. The law also required those arrested to stay in jail before trial, no matter the circumstances.
SB 4-C unfairly targeted immigrants and disrupted the lives of hardworking residents of Florida, creating an intense climate of fear and uncertainty, and threatened the stability of our children, families, and economy. This law wasn’t just cruel — it violated federal law and basic constitutional rights.
The latest: On April 29, 2025, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Senate Bill 4-C and ruled that the law likely violates the U.S. Constitution — meaning the law is blocked for now, while the case continues in court.
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