Latest news with #12thJudicialCircuit
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Some Florida officers are continuing to charge people under halted immigration law
FILE - Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier speaks during a meeting between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Rebecca Blackwell/AP TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Some law enforcement officers are continuing to charge people under a Florida law that bans people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state, even though a federal judge has halted enforcement of the law while it's challenged in court. Two more people were arrested and charged under the law in July, according to a report Florida's attorney general is required to file as punishment for defying the judge's ruling. Both men were arrested by a sheriff's officer in Sarasota County, located on the state's southwest coast. The charges came months after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami first halted enforcement of the state statute, which makes it a misdemeanor for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials. Advertisement Article continues below this ad As punishment for flouting her order and being found in civil contempt, the judge required Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to file bimonthly reports about whether any arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions have been made under the law. In separate incidents on July 3 and July 28, the men were each charged with driving without a valid license and offenses related to driving under the influence of alcohol. The State Attorney's Office for the 12th Judicial Circuit dismissed the illegal entry charges against them, and requested that the sheriff's office advice the arresting officer of the court's order halting enforcement of the law, according to the status report. A spokesperson for Uthmeier did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a separate court filing, immigrants' rights advocates who filed the lawsuit questioned whether state officials are using the blocked law to justify holding detainees at an isolated immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' Attorneys for the advocates provided the court an email apparently sent by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee to the offices of members of Congress, stating that Florida officials are relying on legal authority granted by the blocked law. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 'ICE's email raises serious concerns about potential violations of the Court's injunction on a large scale,' attorneys for the immigrants' rights groups wrote, asking the court to order the state to explain under what legal authority it's holding people at the Everglades facility. ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Some Florida officers are continuing to charge people under halted immigration law
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Some law enforcement officers are continuing to charge people under a Florida law that bans people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state, even though a federal judge has halted enforcement of the law while it's challenged in court. Two more people were arrested and charged under the law in July, according to a report Florida's attorney general is required to file as punishment for defying the judge's ruling. Both men were arrested by a sheriff's officer in Sarasota County, located on the state's southwest coast. The charges came months after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami first halted enforcement of the state statute, which makes it a misdemeanor for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials. As punishment for flouting her order and being found in civil contempt, the judge required Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to file bimonthly reports about whether any arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions have been made under the law. In separate incidents on July 3 and July 28, the men were each charged with driving without a valid license and offenses related to driving under the influence of alcohol. The State Attorney's Office for the 12th Judicial Circuit dismissed the illegal entry charges against them, and requested that the sheriff's office advice the arresting officer of the court's order halting enforcement of the law, according to the status report. A spokesperson for Uthmeier did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a separate court filing, immigrants' rights advocates who filed the lawsuit questioned whether state officials are using the blocked law to justify holding detainees at an isolated immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' Attorneys for the advocates provided the court an email apparently sent by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee to the offices of members of Congress, stating that Florida officials are relying on legal authority granted by the blocked law. 'ICE's email raises serious concerns about potential violations of the Court's injunction on a large scale,' attorneys for the immigrants' rights groups wrote, asking the court to order the state to explain under what legal authority it's holding people at the Everglades facility. ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Illinois Landlord Who Fatally Stabbed 6-Year-Old Palestinian-American Boy Gets 53 Years in Prison
Joseph Czuba, 73, was sentenced to 53 years in prison for the murder of his 6-year-old tenant Wadee Alfayoumi Czuba stabbed Wadee and his mother just days after Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks in Israel The mother, who survived, testified Czuba had ordered the family to move out because they were Muslim An Illinois landlord who fatally stabbed his 6-year-old Palestinian-American tenant soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks was sentenced to more than 50 years in prison on Friday, May 2. Joseph Czuba, 73, was sentenced by Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak of Illinois' 12th Judicial Circuit, The New York Times reports. He had been convicted in February on murder, attempted murder, and hate crime charges for murdering 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and stabbing the boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen, who survived. At trial, Shaheen testified that her family had rented rooms from Czuba at his Plainfield home for two years without incident, per the Associated Press. But he seemed to grow more paranoid following Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Following the attacks, Shaheen testified that Czuba told her the family had to move out because they were Muslim, AP reported. She told him to "pray for peace" in response. On Oct. 14, a week after the attacks, Shaheen said Czuba forced his way into her room and stabbed her over a dozen times. When she fled to the bathroom to call 911, Czuba attacked Wadee, stabbing him 26 times and leaving the knife in the little boy's body, the BBC reported. 'He told me 'You, as a Muslim, must die,'' Shaheen said on the stand, per the Ill. Landlord Convicted of Fatally Stabbing Palestinian American Boy 26 Times in Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Jurors were presented shocking crime scene photos and audio from Shaheen's 911 call, where she screamed "the landlord is killing me and my baby," the AP reported. Police testified to finding Czuba outside the home covered in blood after responding to the 911 call. Jurors deliberated for just 90 minutes before delivering the verdict against Czuba, per the AP. 'This happened because this defendant was afraid that a war that started on Oct. 7, 2023 — a half a world away in the Middle East — was going to come to his doorstep,' prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald told jurors, according to the Times. 'This happened because Hanan and Wadee were Muslim.' Read the original article on People
