A federal judge in the Southern District of Florida has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) Friday halting the enforcement of a new state law (Senate Bill 4-C or S.B. 4-C) that creates new state offenses related to illegal entry and reentry into Florida.
In an order issued on April 4, 2025, U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams granted a motion for a TRO filed by the Florida Immigrant Coalition and other plaintiffs. The plaintiffs argued that S.B. 4-C violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy and Commerce Clauses. RELATED: Lawsuit Filed To Block Florida’s Anti-Illegal Immigrant Law
S.B. 4-C, which went into effect on February 13, 2025, establishes two new state law offenses:
‘Illegal Entry by Adult Unauthorized Alien into This State’: This law prohibits any “unauthorized alien who is 18 years of age or older” from “knowingly enter[ing] or attempt[ing] to enter” Florida “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.” A first conviction is a first-degree misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum sentence of nine months’ imprisonment. Subsequent convictions are felonies with escalating mandatory minimum sentences.
‘Illegal Reentry of an Adult Unauthorized Alien’: This law makes it a third-degree felony for an adult “unauthorized alien” to “enter[], attempt[] to enter, or [be] at any time found in” Florida after “having been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or having departed the United States during the time an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding.”
The law also mandates that courts presume “no conditions of release can reasonably assure the presence” of individuals arrested under these provisions, requiring their detention without bond pending the case’s disposition.
Judge Williams’s order stated that the plaintiffs demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claims.
The court found that the plaintiffs persuasively argued that S.B. 4-C likely violates the Supremacy Clause because immigration regulation is an area exclusively reserved for the federal government. The court also noted that similar laws in other jurisdictions have been found to be preempted by federal immigration law.
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The court also acknowledged the plaintiffs’ argument that S.B. 4-C may violate the Commerce Clause by facially discriminating against interstate commerce by criminalizing entry across Florida’s border only by certain noncitizens.
The TRO is in effect for fourteen (14) days from the date of the order. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for April 18, 2025.
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