Trump appointed federal judge reverses his own decision to block DeSantis immigration law

A Trump appointed federal judge in South Florida on Thursday reversed a previous ruling he issued to temporarily halt Gov. Ron DeSantis's immigration plan.

U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump issued an injunction on Wednesday that obstructed part of the Florida governor’s immigration plan, making it a felony to transport illegal immigrants into the Sunshine State.

On Wednesday, Altman refined his own decision, saying that the injunction applied across the entire state, but on Thursday he announced he would hold a briefing on the injunction, according to the Washington, D.C. political newspaper, The Hill.

Altman ordered both parties in the ongoing legal lawsuit to submit briefs by June 6 to determine whether the injunction would just apply to plaintiffs, the state or the entire district.

“On further reflection, we now invite further briefing on the proper scope of the injunction,” Altman wrote in a Thursday order, according to the Miami Herald.

Altman originally rejected arguments from State of Florida lawyers who argued the injunction would interfere with law enforcement officers, making it more challenging for them to identify drug traffickers.

“By making it a felony to transport into Florida someone who ‘has not been inspected by the federal government since his or her unlawful entry,’ [the law] extends beyond the state’s authority to make arrests for violations of federal immigration law and, in so doing, intrudes into territory that’s preempted,” Altman wrote in Wednesday's ruling.

“Any harm the state may suffer from an injunction is outweighed by the harm [the law] poses both to the plaintiffs and the United States, which has the ultimate interest in protecting federal supremacy in the realm of immigration.”

The Florida immigration plan was passed by the Republican state legislature last year, and signed into law by DeSantis before his 2024 presidential bid, which he ended in Janaury.

The legislation was a critical part of a larger anti-immigration bill that the Florida governor promoted as “most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country,” Politico reported.

Before Altman reversed his ruling on Thursday Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office released a statement that said the state would appeal the U.S. District Court judge’s decision.