Just hours after confirming blockage of an immigration law in Florida, a federal judge reportedly reversed his own decision.
Judge Roy Altman issued an injunction Wednesday temporarily blocking a key part of GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis' immigration law that would make it a felony to transport undocumented migrants into the state, The Hill reported.
Altman agreed with the Farmworker Association of Florida that federal immigration laws would likely preempt the state law.
But in a supplemental order Thursday, Altman wrote that he wanted to "clarify the scope of that preliminary injunction" — and said there were reasons why a statewide injunction should be appropriate in the case, The Hill reported.
Hours later, Altman appeared to backtrack, however, issuing another order stating "on further reflection," he will be hosting a briefing on "the proper scope of the injunction."
In his original order, Altman rejected arguments from Florida GOP Attorney General Ashley Moody that an injunction could prevent law enforcement from doing its job — including efforts to identify people who are drug traffickers, The Hill reported.
Florida's immigration law was signed by DeSantis in 2023 and led to some migrants being relocated to blue states on buses and planes.
Immigrant rights activists and the Farmworker Association of Florida filed a lawsuit in July 2023, The Hill reported, focusing on the transportation of individuals who entered the country unlawfully.
After Altman's injunction, Spencer Amdur, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project, said the decision was the right call, saying the law is unconstitutional and asserting it "threatened Floridians with jail time for doing the most ordinary things, like going to work, visiting family, and driving kids to soccer games."
But the Miami Herald reported the conflicting back-to-back orders from Altman created confusion about how pending cases will be prosecuted and how the injunction will proceed.
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