‘Yes, We Signed the Damn Thing Because We Really Had To,’ Orlando Mayor Says of Forced Transports for ICE

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings signed an updated agreement with U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) on Friday, although he later said he did so under “protest and extreme duress.”

It came days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened the mayor and all six county commissioners that their failure to do so would result in their removal from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Yes, we signed the damn thing because we really had to. We were put in a tough spot,” Demings said during a late afternoon press conference in Orlando. “I can’t let our entire board of county commissioners and myself be removed from office.”

Demings signed an addendum to modify the 287(g) Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Memorandum of Agreement that will allow county jail officials to transport immigration detainees to ICE facilities — although he said he still needs to assess the readiness of his corrections department staff to do so while keeping everyone safe at the county jail. He said that there are 212 vacancies within the Orange County corrections department right now, a vacancy rate of 24%.

Speaking in Orlando earlier on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that local governments could apply for grants from the state to reimburse their costs for detaining and transporting detainees. “I think the detention transport, that’s something that would be appropriate to do, and we approved the guidelines for the grants to go out,” he said.

In his letter posted on X earlier this week (which Demings said his office had just received on Friday), Uthmeier wrote that “prohibiting your corrections officers from transporting arrested aliens to ICE-approved detention facilities squarely prevents your corrections officers from cooperating with ICE and participating in federal immigration operations.”

Failure to back down, he added, would result in removal from office by DeSantis.

Demings, the former chief of police for Orlando who has led Orange County since 2018, said earlier this week that he was not going to allow Uthmeier to “bully” him or other Orange County leaders. But he said on Friday that with the possibility that not signing the addendum would allow DeSantis to “insert his minions,” he really had no choice in the matter.

“I thought it was urgent that we had to take action now to preclude the possibility that the elected body here in Orange County could be removed from office,” he said. “I hope you understand that. That was a calculated risk that we had, obviously. People that had no elected responsibility to our county would be inserted or put in place. That would be catastrophic to the continuity of government here in Orange County. That is something that I certainly did not want to happen.”

Uthmeier and DeSantis have previously asserted that other local governments in Florida that do not fully cooperate with ICE would be defined as employing “sanctuary” policies, which are prohibited in Florida.

In doing so, they ensured that local governments in Fort Myers and Key West ultimately did sign 287(g) agreements with ICE, though in fact cities are not legally required to sign such agreements under Florida law — even if counties are.

Demings said he didn’t understand why state officials had to be so confrontational when it came to enforcing immigration policy in Florida.

“We’re not enemies,” he said. “Local governments are subdivisions of the state. Our state officials in government should act like it. They should remember that we are part of the state of Florida. The state of Florida works best when we work in collaboration, across political lines. The comments I’m making today have nothing to do with partisan politics. It has everything to do with public safety in our community.”

The Orange County Commission must still approve the addendum. Members are scheduled to meet next Tuesday.

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Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings signed an updated agreement with U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) on Friday, although he later said he did so under “protest and extreme duress.”

It came days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened the mayor and all six county commissioners that their failure to do so would result in their removal from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Yes, we signed the damn thing because we really had to. We were put in a tough spot,” Demings said during a late afternoon press conference in Orlando. “I can’t let our entire board of county commissioners and myself be removed from office.”

Demings signed an addendum to modify the 287(g) Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Memorandum of Agreement that will allow county jail officials to transport immigration detainees to ICE facilities — although he said he still needs to assess the readiness of his corrections department staff to do so while keeping everyone safe at the county jail. He said that there are 212 vacancies within the Orange County corrections department right now, a vacancy rate of 24%.

Speaking in Orlando earlier on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that local governments could apply for grants from the state to reimburse their costs for detaining and transporting detainees. “I think the detention transport, that’s something that would be appropriate to do, and we approved the guidelines for the grants to go out,” he said.

In his letter posted on X earlier this week (which Demings said his office had just received on Friday), Uthmeier wrote that “prohibiting your corrections officers from transporting arrested aliens to ICE-approved detention facilities squarely prevents your corrections officers from cooperating with ICE and participating in federal immigration operations.”

Failure to back down, he added, would result in removal from office by DeSantis.

Demings, the former chief of police for Orlando who has led Orange County since 2018, said earlier this week that he was not going to allow Uthmeier to “bully” him or other Orange County leaders. But he said on Friday that with the possibility that not signing the addendum would allow DeSantis to “insert his minions,” he really had no choice in the matter.

“I thought it was urgent that we had to take action now to preclude the possibility that the elected body here in Orange County could be removed from office,” he said. “I hope you understand that. That was a calculated risk that we had, obviously. People that had no elected responsibility to our county would be inserted or put in place. That would be catastrophic to the continuity of government here in Orange County. That is something that I certainly did not want to happen.”

Uthmeier and DeSantis have previously asserted that other local governments in Florida that do not fully cooperate with ICE would be defined as employing “sanctuary” policies, which are prohibited in Florida.

In doing so, they ensured that local governments in Fort Myers and Key West ultimately did sign 287(g) agreements with ICE, though in fact cities are not legally required to sign such agreements under Florida law — even if counties are.

Demings said he didn’t understand why state officials had to be so confrontational when it came to enforcing immigration policy in Florida.

“We’re not enemies,” he said. “Local governments are subdivisions of the state. Our state officials in government should act like it. They should remember that we are part of the state of Florida. The state of Florida works best when we work in collaboration, across political lines. The comments I’m making today have nothing to do with partisan politics. It has everything to do with public safety in our community.”

The Orange County Commission must still approve the addendum. Members are scheduled to meet next Tuesday.

–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix