Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was found in civil contempt Tuesday for defying a federal judge’s order in an immigration case.
In April, Judge Kathleen Williams banned the enforcement of Florida laws that make it a misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants to enter or re-enter the state while it was being challenged in court by immigrant rights groups.
Uthmeier sent out a notice to Florida law enforcement informing them of Williams’ order. In the notice, the attorney general said he disagreed with the order, calling it “both wrong on the merits and overbroad on its scope,” according to court documents obtained by The Independent. He added that his office will “continue to press these scope-of-relief arguments in the district court and, as appropriate, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.”
In a follow-up memo a few days later, Uthmeier said Williams ordered his office to notify the agencies of her injunction, which he did, but in it, he said he “cannot prevent you from enforcing” the challenged laws.
“It is my view that no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce Florida’s new illegal entry and reentry laws,” he wrote, according to court documents.
When the court asked Uthmeier why he shouldn’t be held in contempt or sanctioned, he argued he hadn’t violated William’s order because he did not enforce the challenged laws and he informed law enforcement of the order, court documents reveal.
The court also detailed multiple public interviews where Uthmeier shared his reaction to William’s order.
“This judge is considering whether or not to hold me in contempt. But I am not going to rubber stamp her order, I’m not going to direct law enforcement to stand down on enforcing the Trump agenda and carrying out Florida’s law,” the attorney general said in a May 6 interview.
Days later, he said in another interview, “We do have a judge who is threatening to hold me in contempt because I won’t follow an order she has to direct our law enforcement not to enforce a new law we passed earlier this year that says you can’t be illegally in the State of Florida.”
As part of Williams' new order finding Uthmeier in contempt, he will now have to file bi-weekly reports “detailing whether any arrests, detentions, or law enforcement actions pursuant to [the challenged laws] have occurred, and if so, how many, when, and by which law enforcement agency.”
If the attorney general learns of any arrests related to the laws, he must inform the court “immediately.”
