Attorney General James Uthmeier is threatening three Fort Myers city council members with removal from office after they refused Monday to deputize police officers to participate in immigration enforcement.
Uthmeier, who became the attorney general a month ago, warned the council that Gov. Ron DeSantis could remove them from office if they didn’t allow the city police to question people about their immigration status and detain those subject to deportation.
After hours of public testimony and debate, the city council of the Southwest Florida city voted a 3-3 deadlock Monday, stopping city police from entering into an agreement with the federal government to cooperate in immigration enforcement efforts.
Over the past month, all 67 Florida sheriffs and at least 40 municipalities have entered into the 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, far exceeding the number of agreements from any other state.
“Failure to correct the Council’s actions will result in the enforcement of all applicable civil and criminal penalties, including but not limited to being held in contempt, declaratory or injunctive relief, and removal from office by the Governor,” Uthmeier wrote in the letter he sent to the council Tuesday.
Recent state laws require local entities to participate in immigration enforcement, DeSantis wrote in a post on X Tuesday, after Uthmeier posted on the social media platform that his office would investigate the council members’ actions.
“The 287(g) program trains local law enforcement to aid ICE,” DeSantis wrote. “Florida will ensure its laws are followed, and when it comes to immigration — the days of inaction are over. Govern yourselves accordingly.”
DeSantis last month signed two laws aimed at helping the Trump administration carry out mass deportations.
One of those laws states that local officials must use their “best efforts” to support federal immigration law. Uthmeier could take legal action against local officials who refuse to comply with a request from ICE to hold a person beyond their scheduled release from a local jail so the federal agency can take them into custody.
In the letter, Uthmeier cited the recently signed law, stating that their decision to block the agreement with ICE meant the council members were implicitly implementing sanctuary policy.
The governor has branded such agreements during press conferences as street-level enforcement and the maximum level of cooperation with the federal government on internal immigration enforcement.
“I can’t stand behind this”
A spokesperson for the city council told Florida Phoenix that people interested in the decision should watch the video of the meeting and that Diana Giraldo, one of the three council members who voted against the agreement, wouldn’t take an interview.
“I can’t stand behind this as an immigrant, the only immigrant sitting on this council,” Giraldo said while tearing up during the meeting. “Because although this isn’t about me, particularly, I have been in that position, and I can’t even express how heavy this is my heart and in my mind knowing that the majority of us who come as immigrants, we don’t come here to commit crimes.”
Darla Bonk, another council member who voted against the agreement, wrote in an email to the Phoenix that she wouldn’t comment on the vote but that she had told the attorney general’s office that she was happy to cooperate and answer questions. The other council member in opposition, Terolyn Watson, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Florida Immigrant Coalition spokesperson Thomas Kennedy said that even Democratic cities such as Tallahassee have adopted the agreements out of fear of retribution.
“The reason why this is happening, again outside of counties that operate a jail, is because they’re all scared of the governor and his stretching of his constitutional authority to remove local elected officials, and Uthmeier is trying to lean into that to intimidate these municipalities into compliance,” Kennedy said, referencing DeSantis’ ousting of two Democratic state attorneys.
–Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix
Richard Fay says
“Papers please.”
Skibum says
Kudos to Ft. Meyers! I hope more local government bodies start sticking up for themselves, their police officers, and their local citizenry. Note to all the maga mush brains: these ridiculous demands that local law enforcement be “deputized” and redirect their priorities toward searching out and questioning those who even appear to be of foreign ethnicity or nationality is crazy AND it will inevitably make those communities LESS SAFE because people will be scared to call for the police when crimes occur. Communities and law enforcement desperately want people to be proactive in their cooperation with law enforcement, to call 911, to be willing to give statements to police as witnesses to crimes, etc. so that criminals can be arrested and brought to justice. It makes no sense to ostracize a segment of ANY local community, making them afraid of the police and not wanting to help police solve crimes. If the federal government wants to up their enforcement efforts, great! HIRE MORE FEDERAL ICE OFFICERS! Do people not understand that at the same time that the clown-in-chief in the WH and his 1st stooge are trying to put all of this enormous cost and responsibility on states and local governments while at the same time firing the federal employees in some of the agencies who have the job responsibilities granted to them by law to handle federal immigration policy and violations? Don’t do their jobs for the feds… MAKE THEM BRING THOSE AGENCIES UP TO A SUFFICIENT LEVEL TO HANDLE THEIR OWN DAMN RESPONSIBILITIES!!! Local police need to be seen as peace keepers and there to be called upon when needed, to help people resolve issues, to make arrests for crimes that fall under their jurisdictions. And they absolutely need everyone’s help, assistance and cooperation in order to make our communities safer, and what is happening, and what this stooge in Tallahassee is proposing will only serve to alienate people from wanting to do just that.
Dan says
Yes, so city officials can only obey the laws they agree with. That’s interesting.
Burn it says
Typical fascist remove all who even speak of opposing racist ignorant laws. Send the statue back and add a swatiskta to the flag cause that’s who we are now.
Marek says
They are coming to get us all . If you don’t prostrate and lick their boots , you are an enemy.
Sherry says
At The Federal Level, DOGE used an armed force to take over an “Independent, Non Government, Non- Profit” Institute for Peace:
March 19 2025 NBC
WASHINGTON — The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent non-profit established by Congress 40 years ago, is asking a federal judge to immediately block the Department of Government Efficiency’s attempted forced shutdown of the organization after what its lawsuit portrayed as a “takeover by force” of their headquarters building that took place with the assistance of the FBI, the Justice Department, and local D.C. police.
The lawsuit — which was brought by the Institute of Peace and member of the board and names Assistant to the Administrator for Management and Resources for USAID Kenneth Jackson, DOGE, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump, among others — contends that the Trump administration attempted to unlawfully fire USIP President George Moose after moving to fire board members and replace them with Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice Admiral Peter A. Garvin.
The suit says that the “attacks culminated in the literal trespass and takeover by force by Defendants, including representatives of DOGE, of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue.”
The lawsuit describes a dramatic standoff in which DOGE gained access to the headquarters building with the assistance of an employee for a private security company whose contract was dropped by USIP. “DOGE has broken into our building,” USIP Acting President and CEO George Moose said in a statement during the standoff on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell swiftly set a hearing for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, after the lawsuit was filed late Tuesday. The defendants are seeking a temporary restraining order, with USIP lawyers writing that defendants “blatantly violate the plain terms of the USIP Act,” which established the non-profit in 1984. They continue: “Defendants have been and are at this minute engaged in conduct that will cause the Institute irreparable harm that will prevent the Institute from performing any of its lawful functions and is likely to utterly destroy it.”
Immediate intervention, attorneys wrote, “is appropriate to stop the ongoing destruction of the Institute’s physical and electronic property until the Court can further consider the merits.”
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Tuesday that Trump “signed an executive order to reduce USIP to its statutory minimum” and that “11 board members were lawfully removed” before three board members appointed Jackson acting president of the organization.
“Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,” Kelly said. “The Trump administration will enforce the President’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”
The lawsuit is part of a growing collection of court actions brought by members of different independent agencies in response to attempted takeovers by the Trump administration. The administration has argued the actions are an attempt to rein in “so-called independent agencies,” after Trump signed an executive order an order declaring that under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, all executive branch officials and employees fall under his supervision.
On Tuesday, Trump took action to fire two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, with both saying they plan to challenge their dismissals.
Skibum says
The hypocrisy of this ludicrous crack down on supposed undocumented “criminals” is astounding! This is an effort to round up those who have potentially committed nothing more than a civil violation of crossing the border into our country without permission, orchestrated by the orange-faced convicted felon who actually is a real criminal after being tried and convicted in federal court of all 34 felony counts against him. All while the sanctimonious Elon Musk is being ordered over and over by federal courts to revers his unconstitutional purge of federal employees and entire agencies. If the buffoon in the WH wants to make a positive difference he should deport Musk back to South Africa where he was born for his numerous violations of our nation’s Constitution! And while were on that subject, how about we just cut to the chase and storm the WH, throw the orange-faced ignoramus out on his bulbous and well padded ass, or better yet, have him carted to the SpaceX launch pad, tied to the top of one of Musk’s infamous Starship exploding rockets, and blast that a-hole into outer space where he has a 50-50 chance of making it half way to Mars… if the rocket he rides doesn’t blow up in spectacular fashion on its way up. Now THAT would be justice served for all of the destruction he has caused in the very short time he reoccupied defiled our nation’s oval office.