Left: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting a raid (Fox News/YouTube). Right: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (Office of Attorney General).
Immigration advocates say Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier committed “quintessential contempt of court” by defying a judge’s order stopping local immigration arrests from being carried out under a new state law — blasting it as “simply not acceptable” and “criminal” in a federal filing last week.
Lawyers for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs hurled the allegations in a 26-page response last Thursday to a brief from Uthmeier responding to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ request that Uthmeier explain why he hasn’t complied with her order.
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, which gave state law enforcement the power to arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants. It is now a first-degree misdemeanor for a person to enter Florida as an “unauthorized alien.”
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.
Uthmeier initially directed authorities in the Sunshine State to stop immigration arrests from being carried out, but he reworded his directive just days later in an April 23 letter to Florida law enforcement agencies — saying he actually “cannot prevent” the arrests from happening, according to the Miami Herald.
Williams extended her restraining order on April 18 and then issued a preliminary injunction on April 29, noting how the law was “likely” unconstitutional. She ordered Uthmeier to explain why he should not be held in contempt for the April 23 letter he sent.
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The AG’s legal team sent a response on May 12, the very last day of Williams’ deadline, saying he has “consistently abided by the court’s order to cease enforcing” the law.
“Nowhere does the TRO (expressly or impliedly) require the attorney general to refrain from sharing his views about the order with law enforcement,” Uthmeier’s lawyers claimed.
His opponents beg to differ.
“The Attorney General asserts that finding contempt here would ‘deny an important Florida government official the right to speak for himself,’ ‘implicating serious First and Tenth Amendment concerns,” the immigrant groups explained Thursday, quoting Uthmeier’s May 12 response directly.
“But a contempt finding would do no such thing,” they said.
“Undoubtedly, the Attorney General may speak and may express his disagreement with the court’s orders — including to the court, the 11th Circuit [Court of Appeals], the public, and law enforcement. But what the Attorney General may not do is tell law enforcement officers that no order restrains them from enforcing S.B. 4C, when in fact one does, and when the likely result is arrests and detentions in violation of the Court’s order,” the groups explained.
The plaintiffs have alleged that Uthmeier’s letter violated the Florida Rules Regulating the Florida Bar (RRTFB) “in multiple ways,” according to Thursday’s filing.
“These violations strike at the core duties of candor, honesty, and respect for judicial authority, and are especially grave considering the Attorney General’s role as Florida’s chief legal officer,” the groups said.
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They have accused Uthmeier of committing “criminal contempt” and are asking that his conduct be referred to the Florida Bar for disciplinary proceedings, per Thursday’s filing.
“The Attorney General does not suggest that the order to provide notice itself violated either his speech rights or principles of federalism,” the groups said. “The same is true of the direction, implicit in every injunction, not to actively work to defeat and undermine the court’s order. Thus, the April 23 letter constitutes contempt.”
Uthmeier has said that he believes Florida authorities were “fulfilling their constitutional duties” by flouting Williams’ order.
“We believe the court has overstepped and lacks jurisdiction,” Uthmeier told Fox News.
His office has appealed Williams’ injunction to the 11th Circuit.
