Challenging Florida’s Unconstitutional Anti-Immigrant Law

This lawsuit, filed on behalf of several individuals and the Farmworker Association of Florida, challenges Section 10 of Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 1718. 

Florida’s draconian Senate Bill 1718, which went into effect on July 1, 2023, includes a host of provisions designed to marginalize immigrants and purportedly enforce federal immigration law. Section 10 of SB 1718 criminalizes the transportation of individuals into Florida who may have entered the country without federal inspection. Under Section 10, families may be unable to visit each other across state lines. Parents who live near the state border may be unable to drive their children to medical appointments or soccer matches. Co-workers may be unable to drive each other to work. Friends may be unable to give each other rides to the grocery store. Churches may be unable to transport members of their congregation to religious events.  

At the direction of Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida legislature drafted a law that is so unclear that it potentially sweeps in many immigrants with permission to live and work in the United States. 

Plaintiffs contend that with Section 10, Florida has impermissibly intruded on the federal government’s central role in regulating immigration and violated their right to due process.  

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami by the American Immigration Council, the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, and Americans for Immigrant Justice.