Left: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (Office of Attorney General). Right: U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams (American Bar Association/YouTube).
A federal judge in Florida lashed out at the state’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, in court Tuesday — slamming him and his legal team for defying an order she gave earlier this month that stopped local immigration arrests — while also demanding answers.
“I’m not offended by someone disagreeing with me or my order,” said U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, according to local ABC affiliate WPLG. “What I am offended by is someone saying, ‘You don’t have to abide by it!’” she told Uthmeier’s lawyers.
Williams, a Barack Obama appointee, issued a 14-day stay on April 4 that blocked a law signed into effect by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February that gave state law enforcement the power to arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants. Williams ordered that the law not be enforced in Florida, arguing that it was the federal government’s responsibility to apprehend and litigate migrants, not individual states.
Last week, Uthmeier directed authorities in the Sunshine State to stop immigration arrests from being carried out. He reworded his directive, though, just days later — saying he actually “cannot prevent” the arrests from happening, according to the Miami Herald.
“Color me surprised and shocked,” Williams reportedly said Tuesday, in reference to Uthmeier’s about-face.
“Do I need to put a ribbon on it?” she asked.
According to the Herald, Williams told Uthmeier’s legal team that he “threw everything out of whack” with his reversal and now she’s forced to schedule a show-cause hearing, which she set for May 29. The judge ordered Uthmeier to show cause “on or before” May 12 on why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned for violating her TRO “through sending his April 23, 2025 letter to law enforcement agencies in Florida advising them, in part, that ‘no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes [their] agencies from continuing to enforce.”
Robert Schenck, a lawyer who is representing the Office of the Attorney General — which, along with Uthmeier, is being sued over the new state law — claimed at an April 18 hearing that while state officials were blocked from issuing arrest warrants under Williams’ order, the state believed law enforcement officers did not have to comply because they don’t act “in concert” with one another, per the Herald.
“Your honor, that is our understanding of the order,” Schenck said.
Williams tore into Uthmeier’s team at that hearing too, saying: “I’m astounded and don’t understand this argument.”
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Jeffrey DeSousa, acting solicitor general for the Florida AG’s office, said Tuesday that “there was a problem with the scope of the order” as he raised similar arguments that Schenck made, the Herald reports.
“I’m concerned what the defendants fail to grasp is the unique nature of law enforcement,” Williams said.
Multiple arrests have been carried out in violation of Williams’ order, according to the judge and local media outlets.
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper, for instance, arrested a U.S. citizen from Georgia in north Florida under the new statute, according to reports. Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, was taken into custody on April 16. The new law requires undocumented adult immigrants to first check in with federal border authorities before entering Florida.
Immigration lawyers have called out Florida law enforcement and local officials for what has happened to Lopez Gomez, saying it mirrors other situations that have unfolded across the country recently, including in Maryland, where protected dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested and apparently erroneously deported by federal agents.
While Uthmeier’s office may be taking a different approach, WPLG reports that police officials and county sheriff’s offices across the state have announced that they are complying with Williams’ demands, including Miami-Dade.
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