In the fast-moving world of U.S. immigration news, a Florida court blocked a severe state law while the Trump administration continues to spread fear in its anti-immigrant campaign.
A federal court in Miami temporarily blocked a new Florida law that imposes severe criminal penalties on undocumented immigrants who enter the state.
Kathleen Williams
Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted a temporary restraining order April 4 pausing Senate Bill 4-C, which Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature approved in February.
The legislation was passed during a special session called to support Trump’s anti-immigration agenda. The bill calls for “enhanced criminal penalties, including nine-month or longer prison sentences depending on the number of violations, for migrants who enter the country illegally and subsequently come to Florida.”
The Farmworker Association of Florida, the Florida Immigrant Coalition and two individuals filed the federal lawsuit April 3, arguing the measure is unconstitutional because immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government.
Williams’ ruling agreed, the Miami Herald reported. “In short, for nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has held that the power to control immigration — the entry, admission and removal of noncitizens — is exclusively a federal power.”
Bacardi Jackson
The ruling is a victory for immigrants and their families and for all who cherish the Constitution, said Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, which is litigating the case along with Americans for Immigration Justice.
“The court’s order halts a dangerous and discriminatory law that sought to criminalize people for simply moving within the United States. Florida’s leaders may want to score political points by targeting immigrants, but the Constitution doesn’t allow it.”
Paul Chavez
The restraining order validates plaintiffs’ assertions the new law is designed to instill fear in immigrant communities, said Paul Chavez, director of litigation and advocacy at Americans for Immigration Justice. “The court’s decision recognizes what we’ve known all along: SB 4-C is not only unconstitutional, it’s inhumane. We’re grateful the court stepped in to prevent further harm and protect the rights of our clients and countless others across Florida.”
Spreading fear
However, the Trump administration continues to ramp up efforts to generate fear among immigrants and their families.
Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shared his vision for a more efficient system for conducting deportations, the Arizona Mirror reported April 8 from the 2025 Border Security Expo in Phoenix.
Todd Lyons
“We need to get better at treating this like a business” that operates “like (Amazon) Prime, but with people,” Lyons said.
Trump Border Czar Tom Homan urged military and other private industry representatives attending the event to help improve the mass deportation system, according to the newspaper report.
“We need to buy more beds, we need more airplane flights and I know a lot of you are here for that reason,” he said in his opening keynote. “Let the badge and guns do the badge and gun stuff, everything else, let’s contract out.”
Immigration advocates denounced the idea of treating immigrants like packages.
“Human beings aren’t products to be wrapped, packaged and shipped to fulfill an order. Yet the acting leader of ICE believes that is the ‘dream’ way for ICE to fulfill Trump’s order of mass deportation,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice.
“As the administration turbocharges its mass deportation agenda, they are viewing any immigrant without status as a target to toss aside and ship out of the country,” she said. “Immigrants are hardworking taxpayers, dedicated parents and dependable co-workers; they are community members, Dreamers, TPS holders and caregivers; they have dreams and due process rights and basic dignities that this administration refuses to acknowledge.”
International students
Vanessa Cardenas
Separately, Cárdenas cited a New York Times report the administration has revoked the visas of close to 300 international students and marked them for possible deportation.
“This is what mass deportation looks like. Alongside high-profile cases and major Trump administration announcements are the insidious everyday examples of what they are up to and who they are targeting,” she said. “The administration’s efforts to detain and deport long-residing immigrants from communities across the country fits alongside their efforts to revoke visas from international students, including for undisclosed reasons, and to purge and keep out as many immigrants as possible.”
Prosecuting legal immigrants
Activists also condemned the administration’s revocation of temporary legal status for potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the nation legally using the Biden administration’s CBP One app.
The Department of Homeland Security also announced it is ordering immigrants who used the app to immediately leave the U.S.
“These are people who followed explicit instructions from the U.S. government: they waited in Mexico for CBP One appointments, were vetted by DHS at land border ports of entry, and are in ongoing U.S. immigration court proceedings,” Refugees International said in protesting the decision.
“This is a cruel and brazen continuation of the Trump administration’s assault on immigrants writ-large — no matter how they entered the country — and on humanitarian protections for people seeking safety,” said Yael Schacher, the organization’s international director for the America’s and Europe.
According to the Associated Press, about 900,000 migrants entered the U.S. using the app since January 2023, although it is not clear how many have remained.
“Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security,” a DHS media affairs unit explained.
The White House already has revoked the parole status of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who used the app to legally enter the U.S. But the administration has been temporarily blocked from revoking Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians.
However, the Council on National Security and Immigration welcomed news the administration is maintaining protections for some Afghans who came to the U.S. as part of Operation Allies Welcome and Ukrainians admitted under Uniting for Ukraine.
“Maintaining these programs for Afghans and Ukrainians reflects a recognition that they serve both humanitarian and strategic national security interests,” the group said April 9. “While maintaining these programs is a welcome step, CNSI continues to call on Congress and the administration to build on this progress by reintroducing and passing bipartisan Afghan adjustment legislation.”