A judge blocked Florida’s ban on ‘sanctuary cities.’ What it means for the undocumented
A Florida judge struck down key portions of the “sanctuary city” ban this month.
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said a part of the ban “was enacted based on biased and unreliable data generated by anti-immigrant hate groups” despite having a “chilling and disparate impact” on immigration communities.
Neza Xiuhtecutli, the general coordinator of The Farmworker Association of Florida, felt the impacts of the ban firsthand. The association had to redirect their focus on teaching undocumented farmers their rights during a traffic stop rather than labor laws and pesticide protection.
“Since the law was passed, even before it even became law, there was a lot of anxiety in the community about being targeted,” he said. “They already felt like there was a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment.”
Although associations like this can breathe a little easier after the judge’s ruling, there is still confusion as to what a “sanctuary city” is and the implications it has on undocumented communities.
Allan Lichtman, an American University history professor who testified on behalf of the plaintiffs, or the individuals challenging the bill, as well as Florida immigration attorney Saman Movassaghi Gonzalez, with the Florida Immigration Law Counsel, spoke to the Miami Herald on what we should know.
What is a sanctuary city?
The truth is there is no clear meaning. A “sanctuary city” can consist of a city, county or state and varies based on the laws within a particular jurisdiction, Gonzalez said.
“You’re not going to have necessarily a designation, like raise a flag and say, ‘yes, this is a sanctuary city,’” Gonzalez said. “It has to do with the internal policies of what happens when they get an immigrant, and whether or not you’re going to protect that immigrant or you’re going to turn that immigrant over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”
Lichtman described a sanctuary as a sacred space, like a church, shielding those inside from violence or criminal prosecution. When DeSantis signed the 2019 bill, he defined “sanctuary cities” as “law-free zones” where people arrive illegally, commit crimes, “and then just walk out the door and continue to do it.”
Lichtman views the term “sanctuary cities” as a disparaging, politically charged term with no clear meaning.
“In recent years, with the upsurge in anti-immigrant sentiment, fanned of course by the Trump administration, this has become a pejorative term that somehow refers to harboring and protecting lawless persons,” Lichtman said.
Does Florida have any sanctuary cities?
According to the Ohio Jobs and Justice PAC, an advocacy organization, some areas in Florida had “sanctuary” policies such as Broward and Miami-Dade County, according to the Department of Homeland Security Declined Detainer Outcome Report. Previous Miami Herald articles have reported no “sanctuary cities” in Florida. Gonzalez reiterated, though, that with such an unclear definition it’s difficult to pinpoint.
“There’s no designation, ‘Broward County, the sanctuary city,’ it doesn’t work like that,” Gonzalez said. “It has to do with who’s running the city and what they’re going to stand up for.”
How does the ruling affect undocumented immigrants and families?
The anti-sanctuary bill initially required law enforcement officers and agencies to detain an individual, based on probable cause, as a “removable alien” under federal immigration law.
Gonzalez explained law enforcement officials and agencies can now release a person who violates immigration law and have placed bond or are not being charged criminally after 48 hours. ICE would have to use their own financial and human resources to detain a person.
What are the next steps for sanctuary policies in Florida?
One in five Florida residents were born in another country, while one in eight residents are native-born U.S. citizens with at least one immigrant parent, according to the American Immigration Council. Despite being a heavily immigrant state, Gonzalez said the state is not immigrant friendly.
“The entire system is very broken, and it really, in my opinion, starts with comprehensive immigration reform,” she said. “We need an entire revamp on current immigration laws. They’re antiquated, they don’t make any sense, they’re not helping the US economy.”
Sen. Joe Gruters, a Florida republican who sponsored the bill, said the bill was about, “public safety” and “ensuring that illegal aliens are not treated better than Americans when it comes to the judicial system,” in an earlier statement to the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ communications director, wrote in an email that the bill is neutral, contains anti-discrimination provisions and plan to appeal the judge’s ruling and win.
Lichtman, on the other hand, said he’d like to see the remainder of the bill rescinded as well as introduce measures to rebuild trust among the government, law enforcement and immigrant communities.
Enforcement measures, such as “sanctuary city” bans, disproportionately target alleged undocumented immigrants from Latin America, as opposed to immigrants from white areas of the world like Australia, New Zealand, Oceania or white European nations, Lichtman noted. He also added that the vast majority of detentions did not involve serious criminals, but involve people with no criminal record and were guilty only of petty crimes.
“Immigrants in general and undocumented immigrants in particular have crime rates lower than those of native Americans,” Lichtman said. “So, the notion that somehow undocumented immigrants are posing this crime threat is actually false.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 12:11 PM.