Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier argued that enforcing policy and legislation is “not the role” of the judicial branch, vowing that the state will continue to detain and deport illegal immigrants.
Uthmeier has been held in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams over a letter he sent to local law enforcement stating he could not stop officers from disobeying an order from Williams. The judge placed a temporary pause on a law from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that made it a misdemeanor for illegal immigrants to enter the state.
“She wanted me to direct all of our state law enforcement to stand down on enforcing Florida’s new state immigration law, and I was not going to do that,” Uthemier told Fox News’s America Reports. “No law enforcement agency was even a party before that court. She did not have jurisdiction. I didn’t have the authority to do that. So, I think she’s overstepped her bounds, but if being held in contempt is the price to pay for standing on principle and standing on the law, then so be it.”
As part of the terms of the court order, Uthmeier must file biweekly reports detailing whether any arrests, detentions, or law enforcement actions are made regarding DeSantis’s law. The attorney general said he would abide, but added “all the authorities” needed to enforce this law by federal authority, saying “every single” Florida county sheriff and law enforcement officer can use this to carry out immigration enforcement.
“So many of these judges across the country that start pushing policy and legislation, and that’s not the role of the judiciary,” Uthmeier added. “The Founders would be rolling over in their graves seeing this. But here’s the thing, the federal government, the Trump administration, they’ve delegated authority to all of our state law enforcement officers to go out and use federal authorities to detain and deport, and we’re going to continue to do that.”
Uthmeier vowed that he would continue to fight Williams’s order. He also previewed the need for Florida to have its own law on enforcing deportations to “protect its sovereignty” from future administrations akin to former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
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“We will appeal the state law case up to the Supreme Court, but for now, we’ll work with the feds and we’ll get the job done,” Uthmeier said.
Also on Thursday, Uthmeier previewed what he has dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” He wants to construct a new illegal immigrant detention center on the grounds of a former airport in the Everglades. He argues that the 30-square-mile area is a low-cost solution to house up to “a thousand criminal aliens.” If approved by DeSantis, this center could be up and running in roughly 30 to 60 days.