Florida attorney general reports wrongful charges under halted immigration law
Both men were arrested in late May by deputies in northeast Florida's St. Johns County, more than a month after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami issued an order freezing the enforcement of the state statute. The law makes it a misdemeanor for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in his report filed at the beginning of July that he only became aware of the two cases at the end of June after requesting information from state and local law enforcement. As punishment for flouting her order and being found in contempt, the judge requires Uthmeier to file bimonthly reports about whether any arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions have been made under the law.
On May 29, St. Johns County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a man with an active immigration detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another man on counts of illegal entry and driving without a valid driver's license, according to the status report.
As corrective action, the charge involving the man with the ICE detainer was dismissed in state court, and prosecutors filed a motion that was granted to vacate the charge for illegal entry in the second case, R.J. Larizza, state attorney for the jurisdiction that covers St. Johns County, said in a separate filing.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into law in February as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Immigrants rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of two unnamed, Florida-based immigrants living in the U.S. illegally shortly after the bill was signed into law. The lawsuit said the new legislation violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by encroaching on federal duties.
Williams issued a temporary restraining order and injunction that barred the enforcement of the new law statewide in April. The attorney general's office then unsuccessfully petitioned the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to override that decision. Uthmeier has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
After Williams issued her original order, Uthmeier sent a memo to state and local law enforcement officers telling them to refrain from enforcing the law, even though he disagreed with the injunction. But five days later, he sent a memo saying the judge was legally wrong and that he couldn't prevent police officers and deputies from enforcing the law.
The judge last month found Uthmeier to be in civil contempt of her ruling.
Besides championing the new law, Florida officials have helped Trump's immigration crackdown with the construction of a new immigration detention center named "Alligator Alcatraz" at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades. DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday that a request has been developed for proposals for a second migrant detention facility at Camp Blanding in northeast Florida but no work has begun.
Alligator Alcatraz has "grown quickly" but is not yet at the 3,000 to 4,000 detainees originally envisioned, DeSantis said in Tampa.
"I'm willing to do Blanding once Alligator Alcatraz is filled," the governor said. "Once there's a demand, then we would be able to go for Camp Blanding."
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The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
Kristi Noem says other unnamed states are in the process of building Alligator Alcatraz-style facilities
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Distraught family claimed beloved grandma had been kidnapped by ICE...but now the sinister truth has emerged
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
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Listen up, weaklings: there's no Epstein client list. Why are you so obsessed? Yours, Donald J Trump
You have to feel for Donald Trump's Maga base. The one huge secret they didn't want disclosed was that he actually really hates them. All populists despise their people, obviously – but please, Mr President, respect the playbook! You're supposed to do it quietly. Regrettably, no one could accuse Trump of hiding his spite under a bushel after a week in which he described those of his supporters who want him to simply do what he repeatedly promised, and release the so-called Epstein files, as 'weaklings' and 'stupid people'. This is quite the (public) volte face from the guy who originally swept to office declaring 'I love the poorly educated'. Most of you are unlikely to need a recap at this stage, but Jeffrey Epstein is the sex-trafficking financier and socialite, who conveniently died in jail while awaiting trial, apparently by suicide. A woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of conspiring with him to sexually abuse minors, and is currently serving 20 years in a low-security Florida prison. But no big-hitting or even small-hitting male associate in the US has so much as been arrested for participating in what I believe the dead paedophile would have encouraged us to call his 'lifestyle'. This second Trump administration didn't just sweep to power while repeatedly screaming about the 'cover-up' of this story, but it spent a good portion of its early months assuring its ravenous base that Epstein's supposed 'client list' was on a desk waiting for release approval. Yet now, Trump and his associates say there is no list. Nope. Never even was a list. Where did these weakling idiots get that idea? To summarise his administration's position: 'We took a look at the deep state and it turns out to be very shallow. Seriously, I'm standing in it right now and it doesn't even come up to my knees.' Understandably, a significant proportion of the Maga crowd are not taking this well at all. One of the key takeouts of Trump's rise has been that as long as you tell people that up is down or black is white in an engaging or sufficiently discombobulating fashion, truth is an extremely low-status commodity in contemporary politics. But, contrary to perceived trends, it seems that there do still exist some subjects on which you can only push even your own people so far. Maybe the ancient political adage still holds true: live by the paedo conspiracy, die by the paedo conspiracy. Late on Thursday, as footage of people burning Maga hats spread online, a palpably frustrated Trump announced that he was instructing the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek release of the Epstein grand jury testimony, 'based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein'. Though you'll note the president failed to add the two key words: 'by me'. Still, it's good to hear Trump characterising what's currently happening as 'publicity', confirming that he sees even the desire to see justice served on a suspected paedophile sex-trafficker and his associates as a form of limelight – which, like all limelight, should by rights be his. It feels harder to sustain the idea that there is nothing to see here, especially when leading wingnuts such as the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, far-right activist Laura Loomer, Fox host Laura Ingraham, talkshow queen Megyn Kelly, Maga whisperer Steve Bannon and even the US House speaker, Mike Johnson, are out there pushing the base conviction that, actually, there might well be something to see here. 'It's definitely a full reversal on what was all said beforehand,' observed Marjorie in a once-in-a-career alignment with fact, 'and people are just not willing to accept it.' We have to take our laughs where we can, meanwhile, so do please consider the cavalcade of podcasters and Maga influencers who got jobs like 'director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation' and 'deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation' and are now discovering that life comes at you fast. FBI chief Kash Patel spent the election campaign pushing Epstein conspiracies, and is now believed to be hiding under his big important desk wetting his pants. 'Listen,' his deputy, Dan Bongino, used to instruct his podcast listeners. 'That Jeffrey Epstein story is a big deal, please do not let that story go. Keep your eye on this.' Will do, Dan. Incidentally, a lot of people spent the weekend speculating feverishly that Bongino would sensationally quit his job – but in the end, he just came into work a bit late on Monday. What a tough guy. Make America Deep State Again! Other developments? That are perhaps not unrelated? The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump had served as a contributor to some kind of cursed 50th birthday scrapbook for Epstein, compiled by Maxwell, for which he'd sent a 'bawdy' letter. This missive was reportedly typed inside a drawing of a naked woman's silhouette, in which the famous Trump signature served as a kind of scribble of pubic hair. So far, so FDR. Unfortunately, particularly in the circumstances, the letter itself is said to conclude: 'Happy birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Alas, the current president is not thrilled by this report, denying it completely, adding that he has never in his life 'wrote a picture'. (It goes without saying that all Donald Trump statements, always, are very much [sic].) Much more promisingly, Trump is furious with the WSJ owner, Rupert Murdoch, and threatening to 'sue his ass off'. Oh please don't, Mr President! His ass is 94 years old and incredibly wrinkled. Also, half of Britain's political class still lives up it. Then again, perhaps Trump v Murdoch is very much the desiccated-dick-waving contest the world … wants? Needs? Will have to endure? Unclear which of those applies at this stage, but let's hold out for the possibility that both men are wholly – and indeed literally – consumed by it. Angles-wise, however, there are already signs that the Wall Street Journal might just be the common enemy the Magas need as an off-ramp for their civil war, allowing people who are obsessed with paedophiles to find common cause both with people who don't care about paedophiles, and also with people who may actually have been close personal friends with paedophiles. There'll probably only be one casualty, and it'll probably be Pam Bondi. Women are great at taking these falls. Furthermore, the whole conflagration would once more pit a billionaire president against one of his billionaire buddies – exactly the kind of better world his supporters voted for, and a true testament to how truly, truly deeply he values them. Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
