A federal judge struck down parts of Florida’s immigration enforcement law banning sanctuary cities on Tuesday, saying it was racially motivated.   

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned local governments from creating sanctuary cities to protect undocumented immigrants in 2019. The law also required local police officials to work alongside federal immigration authorities, according to WTSP 10.   

“Sanctuary cities basically create law-free zones where people can come to our state illegally and our country illegally, commit criminal offenses and then just walk right out the door and continue to do it,” DeSantis said when he signed the bill. “In Florida, that will not happen.”  

U.S. Judge Beth Bloom said that the law’s supporters had not given any evidence that the law—SB 168— reduced crime.   

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“Allowing anti-immigrant hate groups that overtly promote xenophobic, nationalist, racist ideologies to be intimately involved in a bill’s legislative process is a significant departure from procedural norms,” Bloom wrote. “This involvement strongly suggests that the Legislature enacted SB 168 to promote and ratify the racist views of these advocacy groups.”  

DeSantis announced that he would appeal Bloom’s decision, per the Associated Press.