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.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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