吃瓜直播

WASHINGTON, D.C. 鈥� Today, the United States Supreme Court rejected Florida鈥檚 request to enforce its state immigration law, Senate Bill 4-C. The law criminalizes the movement of undocumented individuals into the state, attempting to wrest control of the immigration system from the federal government and allow local police officers to make arrests based on immigration status. The result would be inevitable profiling and discrimination鈥揳s highlighted by the illegal arrest of a U.S. citizen under the provision. Today鈥檚 decision extends a long and unbroken string of defeats that the courts have dealt to SB 4-C and related laws in Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Iowa. This now includes appellate decisions from the Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. The Justices did not provide reasoning, and no Justices noted any dissent. The federal district court issued a preliminary injunction against the law in April. In response, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court to put the order on hold. The unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit refused, and the Supreme Court has upheld this block as the case continues. The original challenge was brought on behalf of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida, and several impacted individuals on behalf of a class of all people subject to the law. 鈥淭his denial reaffirms a bedrock principle that dates back 150 years: States may not regulate immigration,鈥� said Cody Wofsy, Deputy Director of the 吃瓜直播 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project. 鈥淚t is past time for states to get the message.鈥� 鈥淭his ruling affirms what the Constitution demands 鈥� that immigration enforcement is a federal matter and that no one should be stripped of their liberty without due process,鈥� said Bacardi Jackson, Executive Director of the 吃瓜直播 of Florida. 鈥淔lorida鈥檚 attempt to bypass federal authority and weaponize local law enforcement to police immigration status was not only unlawful, but it also put thousands of people at risk of unjust detention, separation, and abuse. We are grateful the Court upheld the block, and we remain committed to defending the rights and humanity of all Floridians.鈥� 鈥淔lorida鈥檚 attempt to wrest control of immigration enforcement from the federal government flies in the face of well-established precedent from the Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit, and every other court to have considered a law similar to SB 4-C,鈥� said Paul R. Chavez, Director of Litigation & Advocacy at Americans for Immigrant Justice. 鈥淚n attempting to adopt its own immigration enforcement regime, Florida鈥檚 SB 4-C risked increased racial profiling, civil rights violations, isolation of immigrant communities and unjust deportations. When local policing is entangled with immigration enforcement, it inevitably undermines any trust the local police have built with the immigrant community, which ultimately undermines public safety for all Floridians. Plaintiffs are pleased to see the dominoes continue to fall in holding SB 4-C wholly unconstitutional.鈥� SB 4-C made it a felony for certain immigrants to enter Florida and mandated pretrial detention without bond. The law created new state crimes that infringed on federal law, as well as the constitutional right to move freely across state lines. The fight against this illegal state law will continue, and in the meantime the preliminary injunction the Supreme Court left in place today will continue to prevent state authorities from targeting neighbors across Florida with cruel punishments they would not face under federal law.

NEW YORK 鈥� New documents obtained by the 吃瓜直播 and 吃瓜直播 of Colorado reveal further details about Immigration and Customs Enforcement鈥檚 (ICE) plans to expand ICE detention facilities in Colorado. The records, obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the 吃瓜直播 and 吃瓜直播 of Colorado in April 2025, identify facilities under consideration as potential ICE detention sites in response to a Request for Information issued by ICE for facilities in the Denver area. The documents are released on the heels of congressional passage of a reconciliation bill that has allocated $45 billion to ICE to expand its immigration detention infrastructure nationwide. This amount is larger than the budget for the entire federal prison system and is estimated to allow for the detention of over 100,000 people daily. 鈥淚CE鈥檚 planned expansion of immigration detention will only serve to endanger the lives of immigrants held in dangerous and inhumane conditions, while enriching prison profiteers,鈥� said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淚CE鈥檚 ability to expand immigration detention has been supercharged by recent congressional appropriations, placing immigrants in our communities at even greater risk.鈥� The 115 pages disclosed by ICE identify six potential locations for ICE detention facilities in Colorado and also provide information regarding the history of facility use; available transport; and proximity to local hospitals, immigration courts, and legal services. Notably, many of these facilities have not been operational for several years. The facilities include: Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg, owned by CoreCivic, a private prison corporation. The facility formerly held Colorado and Arizona state prisoners, but closed in 2010, and has a capacity to hold 752 people. Cheyenne Mountain Center in Colorado Springs, owned by the GEO Group, Inc., a private prison corporation. GEO lost its contract with the facility, leading to its closure in March 2020. Hudson Correctional Facility in Hudson, owned by real estate investment trust Highlands REIT. This facility is a prison formerly leased to GEO, which incarcerated Alaska state prisoners under contract, and was shut down in 2014. The Baptiste Migrant Detention Facility in La Junta, owned by the Baptiste Group, formerly a Boys鈥� Ranch facility last used in 2023. The Baptiste Group has operated other migrant children鈥檚 facilities, including one at Homestead, Florida. In 2021, Tennessee suspended the Baptiste Group鈥檚 license due to arrests of workers on charges of sexual battery and child abuse at a migrant children鈥檚 facility. The Colorado Springs Migrant Detention Facility in Colorado Springs, also owned by the Baptiste Group, is a former skilled nursing facility. Apex Site Services, a provider of temporary structures and modular buildings, proposed a soft-sided detention facility in Walsenberg, and BHPE LLC (Begini Howard Private Equity), a private equity firm, also submitted proposals. 鈥淐urrent immigration detention sites, including the GEO detention facility in Aurora, are already notorious for their inhumane conditions, including persistent medical negligence, inadequate nutrition, and routine rights violations,鈥� said Tim Macdonald, legal director at 吃瓜直播 of Colorado. 鈥淚t is unconscionable to go on to expand this cruel, for-profit detention machine.鈥� These FOIA documents follow several other similar disclosures released by ICE as the result of the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 litigation that detail proposals to expand immigration detention nationwide. In 2019, 吃瓜直播 of Colorado released 鈥淐ashing in on Cruelty,鈥� a report detailing death, abuse, and neglect at Aurora Contract Detention Facility, operated by the GEO Group, Inc. In 2024, the family of Melvin Ariel Calero Mendoza, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan asylum seeker, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility and its medical director. The lawsuit alleged the facility failed to diagnose and treat a blood clot in Mendoza鈥檚 leg. As the 吃瓜直播 has鈥痯reviously documented, the federal government鈥檚 immigration detention system overwhelmingly relies on private prison corporations. The FOIA documents are available here.      

NEW ORLEANS 鈥� A federal appeals court upheld an injunction late Thursday night against Senate Bill 4 (88-4), endorsing a district court order that prohibits the anti-immigration law from being enforced in a major win for immigrant rights. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with every court to have examined such laws that federal law leaves no space for this type of state immigration statute: 鈥淔or nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration 鈥� the entry, admission, and removal of aliens 鈥� is exclusively a federal power.鈥� S.B. 4鈥檚 provisions 鈥渞ob every administration of the very discretion in alien removal matters that Congress granted to the federal executive and not to the States.鈥� The extreme Texas law criminalizes people who are undocumented from entering Texas from Mexico, attempting to wrest control of the immigration system from the federal government and allow local police officers to make arrests based on immigration status. It also purports to allow state officers to deport people. Texas had argued that it should prevail because the federal government, which had originally sued, dropped its case earlier this year. But the court of appeals confirmed that the private plaintiffs have standing to sue, and that S.B. 4 is unconstitutional. This decision extends a long and unbroken string of defeats that the courts have dealt to S.B. 4 and related laws in Florida, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Iowa. This includes appellate decisions from the Fifth, Eighth, the Eleventh Circuits. The ruling affirms the injunction, keeping S.B. 4 blocked during the remainder of the litigation. Oral arguments were held in front of the Fifth Circuit on April 3, 2024. Originally, a federal court granted a motion for preliminary injunction in February 2024, which was subsequently appealed by the state of Texas. Advocates have long warned that the law鈥檚 implementation would lead to racial profiling, separating families, and harming Black and Brown communities across the state. The 吃瓜直播, 吃瓜直播 of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project and El Paso County filed the lawsuit, arguing that S.B. 4 violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and is preempted by federal law. The plaintiffs are Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, American Gateways, and El Paso County. Quotes from co-counsel are as follows: Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project, said: 鈥淐ourts around the country have repeatedly and emphatically rejected these state immigration laws. These illegal schemes violate 150 years of Supreme Court precedent and are deeply harmful to our communities.鈥� David Donatti, senior staff attorney at the 吃瓜直播 of Texas, said: 鈥淭he Fifth Circuit鈥檚 decision affirms the longstanding and simple rule that the United States speaks with one voice about when and how to regulate immigration. S.B. 4 is plainly unconstitutional in all its applications, and it does not reflect the values of Texans. We are and always have been a border state. Immigrants belong here.鈥� Rochelle Garza, president of Texas Civil Rights Project, said: 鈥淭his ruling proves that no state, not even Texas, has the power to create its own immigration laws. The court has affirmed decades of precedent making clear that immigration is within the sole dominion of the federal government. S.B. 4 threatens to upend our Constitution, tear apart our democracy, and oppress our Texas communities through racial profiling. We, at the Texas Civil Rights Project, remain dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of all Texans and stopping S.B. 4, or any law like it, from ever going into effect.鈥� Christina Sanchez, El Paso County Attorney, said: 鈥淎s the largest border county in the State of Texas, the County of El Paso has held steadfast in its opposition to this law because the county prioritizes pushing back on unconstitutional actions that seek to bankrupt our community and divert local law enforcement resources away from other priorities. We remain in this fight for justice and the rights of all individuals in our community and continue to urge the courts to uphold the protections guaranteed by the Constitution and to continue rejecting measures like S.B. 4 that undermine local law enforcement and create unfunded mandates for counties to handle federal immigration matters.鈥� Quotes from plaintiffs are as follows: Jennifer Babaie, director of Advocacy and Legal Services at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, said: 鈥淲hat this decision does is recognize the value of the work conducted daily by the staff of organizations like Las Americas. When government officers use their power to directly and illegally threaten immigrants, they not only place those individuals directly in harm's way, they also directly interfere with our ability to simply do our job and meet our mission 鈥� to deliver quality legal services to the most vulnerable among us. As immigration advocates across the state and country have been saying for years, S.B. 4 is unconstitutional, out of touch, and dangerous. Even as we write this, baseless and violent attacks against immigrant communities continue. Our communities deserve so much better.鈥� Rebecca Lightsey, co-executive director of American Gateways, said: 鈥淲e are pleased to see that this hateful, anti-immigrant law will not take effect. There is so much fear and misinformation throughout the immigrant community, and we need to do everything we can to welcome people who are fleeing persecution and give them a right to make their claims and avoid harm.鈥�        

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. House of Representatives today gave final approval to H.R. 1, a budget bill that guts Medicaid and will wreak havoc on our communities, sending it to President Trump鈥檚 desk for his signature. H.R. 1 is the biggest cut to Medicaid in history 鈥� slashing approximately $1 trillion, which will result in at least 12 million people being removed from the program. The bill also cuts off access to Planned Parenthood services for Medicaid enrollees and restricts higher education opportunities, all to fund a dramatic and permanent increase to an immigration detention and deportation apparatus that denies due process and violates human rights. Following the vote in the House, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer with the 吃瓜直播, issued the following statement: 鈥淭his reckless monstrosity is the most harmful bill to pass Congress in a generation. Instead of strengthening Medicaid, they鈥檝e taken an axe to it. Instead of reining in ICE鈥檚 abuses, Congress is throwing the agency billions more to terrorize our communities. 鈥淲hen 12 million people are kicked off Medicaid, patients are no longer able to get lifesaving cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, disabled people lose access to essential care and autonomy, and ICE ramps up lawless raids in our communities, the American people will remember who caused this devastation to our health, rights, and dignity. We won鈥檛 let them forget.鈥�