DeSantis threatens to suspend officials over immigration enforcement
Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis
said Thursday his office has tools, including suspending officials from office, to compel local governments to cooperate with
federal immigration authorities
in assisting in detentions and deportations.
The governor's remarks came just two days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned city officials in Fort Myers that their failure to approve an immigration agreement with federal authorities could have serious consequences.
The Fort Myers City Council on Monday failed to approve an agreement that would have allowed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to train local law officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.
Several council members expressed concern that it would lead to racial profiling and harm the community.
On Tuesday, Uthmeier sent a letter to the city saying Fort Myers could be violating state law prohibiting "sanctuary cities," a name often given to municipalities that limit cooperation with immigration enforcement.
"Sanctuary policies are not tolerated or lawful in Florida," Uthmeier wrote. "Immediate corrective action is required."
DeSantis has a history of removing local officials with whom he has disagreed, in moves critics say are politically motivated. Earlier this decade, the GOP governor removed Monique Worrell, the Democratic state prosecutor for the Orlando area, saying she had failed to prosecute crimes committed by minors and didn't seek mandatory minimum sentences for gun crime.
Worrell, who disputed that claim, was voted back into office last year.
Last month, DeSantis announced that several Florida law enforcement agencies had struck an agreement with ICE to interrogate, arrest and detain immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally and deliver them to federal authorities.
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