TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office this week filed a notice that is a first step in appealing a preliminary injunction that prohibits enforcement of part of a 2023 law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.
The Farmworker Association of Florida and individual plaintiffs challenged part of the law that threatens felony charges for people who transport into Florida immigrants who “entered the United States in violation of law” and have “not been inspected by the federal government since his or her unlawful entry.”
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman last year granted a preliminary injunction blocking the part of the law from being enforced statewide.
The judge later narrowed his original order and specified that the preliminary injunction only applied to the farmworker association; the association’s members as the date of the order; and the individual plaintiffs, who are Andrea Mendoza Hinojosa, Carmenza Aragon and Maria Medrano Rios.
The association has about 12,000 members statewide, according to court documents.
Attorneys for Uthmeieir’s office on Wednesday filed a notice of appeal at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
As is typical in such instances, the notice did not include details about the appeal. Uthmeier’s office this week also turned to the Atlanta-based appeals court in a separate fight about a new law targeting undocumented immigrants who enter Florida.
The state is seeking a stay of a preliminary injunction issued last week that blocked enforcement of the law.
If granted, a stay would allow enforcement while an underlying appeal of the injunction plays out.
That law, passed during a February special legislative session, created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida.
In issuing the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said the law likely was preempted by federal immigration authority.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
