Florida sued over sanctuary policy ban

The city of South Miami and a coalition of immigrant advocates sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday over a new law that forces local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

Activists representing farmworkers, Haitian immigrants, and asylum seekers warned the new law banning "sanctuary" policies is spreading fear at a time when President Donald Trump is announcing sweeps being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The lawsuit filed by lawyers with the Southern Poverty Law Center argues the new legislation will erode trust in law enforcement and lead to racial profiling. It says brown and black people will be subject to harassment by law enforcement because they might be perceived as foreigners.

Jonathan Fried, of We Count!, speaks during a news conference announcing that a coalition of immigrant rights groups are filing a federal lawsuit over Senate Bill 168, a new Florida state law requiring local law enforcement officials to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, Tuesday, July 16, 2019, in Miami. (AP PhotoLynne Sladky)

Mandating cooperation with ICE could be dangerous during hurricane season when residents are asked to heed local government orders of evacuation, SPLC attorney Mich Gonzalez said at a news conference.

In the city of South Miami, more than half of the people are Hispanic or Latino, mostly of Cuban descent, according to U.S. Census estimates.

"For us this is aimed at keeping the lines of communication opened between all communities and South Miami police department," said South Miami commissioner Robert Welsh. "We are worried."

DeSantis signed the bill into law last month.

The complaint says the law violates the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause, which renders state laws invalid if they conflict with federal ones. It also says the legislation goes against the 14th Amendment's due process clause because it detains immigrants past their release date without a warrant.

The complaint states the law was drafted by anti-immigrant organizations, which the SPLC has listed among its hate groups.

It cites remarks made at press conferences including one where bill supporter Amapola Hansberger stood with Republican state lawmakers Sen. Joe Gruters and Rep. Cord Byrd and spoke about immigrants who are in the country illegally, saying "they will kill you." Hansberger, a Nicaraguan native, heads an organization named Legal Immigrants For America, which the SPLC has also described as anti-Muslim and anti-gay.

"The law is rooted in hate because it is based on legislation from anti-immigrant hate groups recruited for the legislators to turn their white supremacist agenda into state law," Gonzalez said at a press conference Tuesday. "The state of Florida has no business or authority forcing local governments and police to do ICE's job."

The governor's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit also says ICE can wrongfully ensnare U.S. citizens. A report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida says that in two years ICE requested to hold 420 people who were later identified as U.S. citizens in Miami-Dade County's jail records.

The new law prohibits local governments from enacting polices that protect immigrants in the country illegally from deportation. It requires law enforcement officers to honor ICE detainers for immigrants in the country illegally who are arrested or convicted of a crime. It exempts crime victims and witnesses.

Advocates said the law would put immigrants on deportation proceedings for offenses as minor as driving with an expired license. Some victims of domestic abuse, rape and human trafficking won't report the crimes out of fear of being deported, the lawsuit says.

DeSantis has a close relationship with President Donald Trump, who made illegal immigration a top priority. Trump helped DeSantis win the GOP primary last year and campaigned for DeSantis in the general election. DeSantis pushed the Legislature to pass the bill. Gruters, who also chairs the Republican Party of Florida, sponsored the bill and repeatedly argued it was simply about following the rule of law.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.

The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.

The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.

Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.

Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.

Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.

The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.

A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)