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Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Florida AG Uthmeier again defends his stance in state immigration case
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in Tampa on June 2, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says it's pretty basic why he won't tell local law enforcement officers in Florida to stand down from enforcing a new state law on immigration enforcement, as a federal judge ordered him to do earlier this year. He says it's because he's not their boss. 'These guys — they don't work for me,' Uthmeier said on Monday in Tampa, referring to two Florida sheriffs standing next to him: Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. 'They're independently elected county officers and they do a great job, but at the end of the day, they are their own officers. I'm not going to direct them when I don't have the authority and I don't believe the judge has the authority to do so.' Uthmeier spoke just days after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams heard legal arguments about whether she should hold him in contempt of court regarding the implementation of a new state law on immigration (SB 4-C), which makes it a misdemeanor for people in the U.S. illegally to enter Florida. Following a legal challenge by attorneys representing immigrant rights organizations, Williams blocked enforcement of the law on April 4. The issue that remains tethered to Uthmeier is a letter he sent to state law enforcement agencies, sheriffs, and police chiefs on April 23, when he wrote that he couldn't stop them from making arrests under the new law, and that, to him, 'no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce Florida's new illegal entry and reentry laws.' Judge Williams has said that Uthmeier not above the law and must abide by the court's orders. Uthmeier said on Monday that the issue goes to the separations of powers and legal jurisdictions. 'Nobody respects the rule of law more than me,' he said in response to an inquiry by a Phoenix reporter. 'But on your first day in law school you learn about the jurisdiction that judges have. And the orders of judges apply to parties before the judge in the case. The case in question in the Southern District. There have been prosecutors that have been sued in that case but no law enforcement agencies. So, when that judge asked me to direct law enforcement to stand down on enforcing the law, I'm not going to do that, because I do not have the authority to do that.' Uthmeier's office as well as the statewide prosecutor and state's attorneys have appealed Williams injunction barring enforcement of the law to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. 'Again, I'm abiding by the court's order, but law enforcement has a job to do, and as long as they're not a party in the case and there's no injunction that is lawfully binding them, then I'm not going to stand in the way,' he said. Uthmeier, a former chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis, was appointed by the governor to succeed Ashley Moody and become Florida's attorney general in February. He has already announced that he will run for a full term next year. DeSantis is backing Uthmeier's stance in this case, saying last month in Tampa that the federal judge in this case has gone beyond her authority in calling on Florida law enforcement agencies to stop making immigration arrests. 'She's trying to exercise authority that she does not possess. Fine,' DeSantis said at the time. 'There's parties to the case and she's rendered a decision even though it's a flawed decision that will be appealed. … You can't go out and then say some sheriff in the Panhandle is somehow subject to your order — they were not involved in the litigation at all.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Immigration foes claim Attorney General Uthmeier is in contempt of court
Opponents of a new law that targets undocumented immigrants who enter Florida argued Thursday that state Attorney General James Uthmeier should be held in contempt of court because of a letter he sent to police after a judge blocked the law. Lawyers for the opponents, who are challenging the law in federal court, argued in a 26-page filing that Uthmeier's conduct surrounding an April 23 letter was 'quintessential contempt of court.' They accused Uthmeier of signaling to police officers that they could make arrests under the law after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams had issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement. 'It is simply not acceptable that, notwithstanding this court's order and his ethical duties, the attorney general encouraged arrests that he fully understood were specifically prohibited,' the lawyers for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs wrote. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit April 2 in Miami challenging the constitutionality of the law, which the Legislature passed during a February special session. The law created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida. Williams on April 4 issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law and extended the restraining order on April 18. Ultimately, she issued a longer-lasting preliminary injunction on April 29, saying the law was likely unconstitutional. In the April 29 ruling, Williams also ordered Uthmeier to 'show cause' why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned because of an April 23 letter he sent. She cited arrests that continued after the temporary restraining order and quoted from Uthmeier's letter, which she said included an effort to 'counsel law enforcement' that they were not restrained from enforcing the law. Uthmeier's lawyers, in a May 12 response, said he complied with the temporary restraining order by not enforcing the law (SB 4-C) and notifying law-enforcement agencies about the temporary restraining order. It said Uthmeier was free to express his disagreement with Williams' decision in the letter. 'The attorney general has consistently abided by the court's order to cease enforcing (the law),' Uthmeier's lawyers wrote. 'Nowhere does the TRO (expressly or impliedly) require the attorney general to refrain from sharing his views about the order with law enforcement.' But in the filing Thursday, lawyers for the plaintiffs said Uthmeier went beyond expressing his views about the temporary restraining order. They said the April 23 letter came after an April 18 notice that Uthmeier sent to police indicating the temporary restraining order prevented them from enforcing the law. Williams had ordered the April 18 notice. 'Considered objectively and in the context of the earlier (April 18) letter, the attorney general's second letter plainly undermined the notice he was directed to provide, and invited arrests which he knew would be violations of this court's order,' the plaintiffs' lawyers argued. 'That is quintessential contempt of court.' In ordering Uthmeier to show cause about why he should not be held in contempt, Williams wrote that Uthmeier sent the April 18 letter notifying law-enforcement agencies to refrain from enforcing the law but then sent the April 23 letter 'reversing his prior directive.' 'It said, 'I cannot prevent you from enforcing (the law), where there remains no judicial order that properly restrains you from doing so,'' Williams wrote. 'Aside from the clear misstatement that there is 'no judicial order' that restrains law enforcement from arresting individuals pursuant to S.B. 4-C, AG Uthmeier's assessment that the order does not 'properly' restrain them demonstrates his active effort to counsel law enforcement.' But in the May 12 response to the show cause order, Uthmeier's lawyers said Williams' reading of the April 23 letter 'relies on one portion of one sentence, rather than reading (the) letter as a whole and in the context of what preceded it: the April 18 letter' and a legal brief that also was filed April 23. 'In the April 23 letter, the attorney general expressly reiterated the court's conclusion that the TRO 'bound' the letter's recipients,' Uthmeier's lawyers wrote. 'He explained — as he had in the April 18 letter — that he believed the court's conclusion as to permissible scope of the TRO was 'wrong,' and he noted that the April 18 letter had promised his 'office would be arguing as much in short order.'' The plaintiffs have alleged the law violates what is known as the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. In issuing the April 29 preliminary injunction, Williams said the law likely was preempted by federal immigration authority. Uthmeier's office has appealed the preliminary injunction to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to disputing that the law is preempted by federal immigration authority, Uthmeier has contended that law-enforcement officers are not defendants in the lawsuit — which was filed against Uthmeier and local state attorneys — and, as result, should not be bound by orders about enforcement. Williams has scheduled a hearing next Thursday on the contempt issue. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Federal appeals court urged to keep block on Florida law targeting undocumented immigrants
A new state law targeting undocumented immigrants who enter Florida should remain blocked as a legal battle plays out, attorneys challenging the law argued in a filing Friday at a federal appeals court. The attorneys, representing the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs, pushed back against a request by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier for a stay of a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued to block the law. The issue of immigration enforcement authority Williams ruled last month that the law likely was preempted by federal immigration authority. Among other things, she pointed to the law (SB 4-C) requiring that violators go to jail. Uthmeier's office quickly appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked for a stay of the preliminary injunction. If such a stay is granted, the law could be enforced while the court case continues. But in the filing Friday, attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote that Williams joined other courts across the country that have considered similar laws "in holding that this effort at state immigration lawmaking is preempted by the exhaustive federal regulation of the entry of noncitizens." The filing cited a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Arizona case that said the federal government "has broad, undoubted power" over immigration-related issues. "Exercising that power, Congress has enacted a pervasive system in the Immigration and Nationality Act to regulate entry into and continued presence in the United States," the filing said. "This system includes federal offenses for unlawful entry and reentry into the country, which are prosecuted in federal court at the discretion of federal prosecutors, subject to rules and exceptions specified by Congress. This system also includes processes by which noncitizens may be detained pending a decision on whether they are to be removed, including full removal proceedings with trial-like processes subject to administrative and judicial appeals and numerous protections that are available despite unlawful entry." State disputes appeals court injunction The law, passed during a February special legislative session, created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida. The Republican-controlled Legislature said the law was aimed at helping carry out President Donald Trump's policies on preventing illegal immigration. In a May 7 motion asking the Atlanta-based appeals court for a stay of Williams' ruling, Uthmeier's office disputed that the law improperly infringed on federal immigration authority. "To aid the United States in curbing illegal immigration within the state's borders, SB 4-C criminalizes the entry into Florida of those who have illegally entered the United States," the motion said. "That law tracks federal law to a tee. It also retains federal law defenses and says nothing of who should be admitted or removed from the country." Uthmeier's office also separately asked Williams for a stay of her injunction amid the appeal. As of early Monday afternoon, Williams had not ruled on that request. In also seeking a stay from the appeals court, Uthmeier's office argued that Williams' delay in ruling effectively was a failure to provide a stay. The plaintiffs in the case are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Immigrant Justice and Community Justice Project. The lawsuit, filed April 2 in Miami, alleges, in part, that the law violates what is known as the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. The lawsuit names as defendants Uthmeier and local state attorneys. In the filing Friday, the plaintiffs' attorneys argued that Florida "cannot claim any harm from being unable to enforce a preempted law." "For over a century, the Supreme Court has made clear that states are barred from enforcing a law like SB 4-C," the filing said. "Courts across the country (have) done the same. Thus, Florida's argument that it has suffered irreparable injury from having its preempted law enjoined, is unavailing."
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DeSantis stands by AG James Uthmeier's defiance of federal court order
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking at the Tampa Hula Bay Club on May 7, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) Gov. Ron DeSantis is standing by Attorney General James Uthmeier's open defiance of a federal court order requiring law enforcement agencies in Florida to halt immigration arrests under a new state immigration law. Talking with reporters in Tampa, the governor said the episode raises a 'larger issue' of who can enact public policy in the United States. 'He's right on the law,' DeSantis said about Uthmeier's decision to defy the court. 'He has the courage to stand and do what's right, even knowing that he's going to get blowback.' DeSantis made those comments following a roundtable discussion on providing property tax relief at the Hula Bay Club in South Tampa. He said the legal standoff raises the question of whether it's the public who get to decide policy through popular elections or 'unelected lifetime-appointed judges.' 'There's a role for the judiciary, but it's to decide a case and a controversy before you,' he said. 'It's not to go outside the bounds of judicial policy or judicial role and try to enact policy.' U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida has suspended enforcement of the law (SB 4-C), passed by the Legislature in a special session in February and signed by the governor on Feb. 13, that gives state officers the power to arrest someone they suspect of entering the state as an 'unauthorized alien.' Uthmeier has since filed an appeal of that decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. In a filing Wednesday, Uthmeier asked the appellate court to allow law enforcement to continue arrests as the litigation continues. The arrest by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper of a U.S. citizen in Tallahassee on April 16 under the law drew national attention and the ire of Williams, who had suspended the law on April 4. 'The district court's order wrongly binds all of Florida's law-enforcement officers — who are not parties, not the parties' agents, and not acting in concert with the parties — flouting longstanding equitable principles entitling every litigant to 'their day in court,'' the state's attorneys wrote. At issue is also a letter Uthmeier wrote to law enforcement agencies in Florida on April 23 after Williams' original order blocking the law, advising them in part that 'no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes [their] agencies from continuing to enforce' the law. Williams wrote in an order last week that Uthmeier needs to show cause why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned for violating her order. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for May 29. Bashing the judicial The governor and Uthmeier contend that the judge in the case has gone beyond her boundaries in calling on Florida law enforcement agencies to stop making immigration arrests. 'She's trying to exercise authority that she does not possess. Fine,' DeSantis said. 'There's parties to the case and she's rendered a decision even though it's a flawed decision that will be appealed. … You can't go out and then say some sheriff in the Panhandle is somehow subject to your order — they were not involved in the litigation at all.' DeSantis' criticisms echo those of President Donald Trump, who faces more than 200 lawsuits in just the first 100-plus days of his presidency, challenging the legality of his orders, according to Reuters. The president has referred to some of those judges as 'radical,' 'conflicted,' and 'rogue.' Background on the suit The ACLU challenged the law last month, along with Americans for Immigrant Justice on behalf of the Farmworkers Association of Florida, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and two women lacking permanent legal status. The law makes it a misdemeanor for adults who came to the U.S. illegally by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers to enter Florida. The groups contend that the law is unconstitutional because only federal authorities have the power to enforce immigration laws. Since the lawsuit was filed, Judge Williams has issued and extended the restraining order that banned state authorities from enforcing the new law, but Uthmeier says he fundamentally disagrees with her decision. 'She wants the law enforcement officers to stop committing arrests, and the problem is the ACLU didn't sue any law enforcement officers,' Uthmeier said Tuesday night in an interview broadcast by the Newsmax cable network. 'So if they want to arrest people under the law, if they want to hand them over to ICE, if they want to help the Trump administration carry out detentions and deportations, they have the legal authority to do that, and I'm not going to stand in their way.' 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Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Attorney General reviewing federal judge's immigration order amid 'contempt' talk
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office is reviewing a federal judge's order blocking parts of Florida's immigration law and is preparing an official response. He made the brief remarks during a press conference in Fort Myers May 2. "I'm going through her order,' Uthmeier said. "I'm talking to counsel. I don't have an official statement on that right now, but I expect they'll have one today (May 2)." His remarks come just days after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction blocking parts of a law signed earlier this year (SB 4-C) that made it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to enter or re-enter Florida. The judge ruled the law likely encroaches on federal authority over immigration, citing federal supremacy over immigration enforcement and warning that the statute could interfere with federal discretion. The Attorney General's office has appealed the ruling. But tensions escalated after an April 23 letter Uthmeier sent to law enforcement agencies. In it, he claimed 'no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes (their) agencies from continuing to enforce' the law. Williams scheduled a May 29 hearing to consider contempt or sanctions against Uthmeier for potentially undermining her ruling. Uthmeier has argued that law enforcement agencies are not defendants in the case and thus not bound by the court's order. But that stance is not shared by all. Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell directed officers in his district to cease enforcement of the immigration law or risk contempt. More: Florida state attorney warns police to stop enforcing immigration law or risk contempt Florida has become a key player in efforts to expand local involvement in immigration enforcement. Florida now leads the nation in ICE 287(g) task force partnerships, which allow trained local officers to assist in identifying and detaining suspected undocumented immigrants. All 67 county sheriff's offices are now part of the initiative. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's new Board of Immigration Enforcement have emphasized full cooperation with federal immigration authorities. In March, the board announced an accountability dashboard designed to flag local agencies that don't make 'best efforts' to enforce immigration law, potentially subjecting them to judicial review or removal from office. In April, Florida law enforcement joined federal agents in "Operation Tidal Wave,' described as the largest joint immigration operation in state history. Over six days, ICE reported 1,120 arrests statewide, the most in a single week in one state in the agency's history. Officials said nearly two-thirds of those arrested had previous criminal records. But immigration advocates have raised red flags over civil liberties, saying some detained individuals had only minor offenses or pending asylum claims. Fort Myers became a flashpoint in the immigration debate after its city council initially rejected a proposed 287(g) agreement. Council members cited concerns over racial profiling, cost and strained community trust. In response, Uthmeier called the decision 'very troubling' and threatened to have his office investigate whether the council violated state law. The council reversed course in an emergency session after receiving new legal guidance, voting unanimously to approve the partnership. In Tallahassee, city officials debated the police department's 287(g) agreement with ICE. City commissioners questioned the legal necessity of the move and criticized the process, while city and police officials defended it as compliance with state law. The legal battle over Florida's immigration law remains unresolved. The outcome of the state's appeal and the upcoming contempt hearing could shape the future of how immigration laws are enforced across the state. Contributing: C.A. Bridges, USA TODAY Network - Florida. Mickenzie Hannon is a watchdog reporter for The News-Press and Naples Daily News, covering Collier and Lee counties. Contact her at 239-435-3423 or mhannon@ This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida AG Uthmeier comments on immigration ruling in Fort Myers
