Immigration Judge Backtracks on Florida Immigration Law

Earlier this week, Judge Roy Altman placed a temporary injunction against a new immigration law that was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Things changed rather dramatically in about 24 hours.

Reports surfaced the next day that Judge Altman seemingly reversed his own decision.

Ruling Reversal

S.B. 1718 was more about human trafficking than it was about illegal immigration, per se.

The law would have made it illegal for anyone to transport an illegal immigrant.

The immediate objections to the law by immigration activists were that the law would criminalize “law-abiding” citizens who were taking relatives to the doctor, going on vacation, etc.

Everyone seemed to miss the point that being in this country illegally is a crime, but I digress.

DeSantis was clearly focusing on the human trafficking aspect of the illegal immigration problem we are having in this country, and apparently, Judge Altman started to realize that, noting that “on further reflection,” he would be updating the scope of his injunction against the law.

As of this writing, Altman has not released his updated injunction, but Democrats and advocacy groups are already panicking, after having celebrated the initial decision.

Altman has asked all parties to submit a brief by June 6, so it would appear that this will be hanging in the air for some time.

He also instructed all parties to note whether the injunction should be district-based or cover the entire state.

DeSantis has a lot riding on this, as there are several new laws around the country that have been mimicking Texas and Florida laws regarding illegal immigration.

Like DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott had his law challenged, which resulted in similar laws being challenged in Iowa and Oklahoma.