U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle, who sat by designation on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, penned a concurrence Thursday sharply criticizing her lower court colleague’s reasons for blocking enforcement of a Florida anti-sanctuary city law.

Mizelle assailed U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida’s 2021 holding that the law was plagued with discriminatory intent based on the legislature’s committee staff analysis that relied on a report about “sanctuary cities” from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which advocates for lower levels of immigration. The challenged law requires local police to cooperate with immigration officials.