ANNALS OF DeSANtiSTAN: Florida attorney general warns Broward sheriff to help ICE enforce immigration laws (or risk firing). (Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel, June 9, 2025)

Florida Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANANTIS's failed Presidential Campaign Manager in 2020 was a 2014 Georgetown University Law Center graduate, JAMES UETHMEIER. Sounding like a TRUMP-like pouty toddler, DeSANTIS-appointed Attorney General UTHMEIER refuses to advise Florida law enforcement about immigration issues when threatened with contempt of court, but orders DeSANTIS-appointed Broward County, Florida Sheriff to help ICE enforce immigration laws upon pain of suspension or removal from office under Florida Constitution Article IV, Section 7. Those two equally extremist DeSANTIS positions seems inconsistent to me.  Do you reckon that jejune juvenile inexperienced State Attorney General James UTHMEIER is a bumptious bully? A tedious termagant toady for our former St. Johns County Congress-critter, Flori-DUH Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS?  Would someone, please explain it to me, like I was a six year old?

From Sun Sentinel:

Florida attorney general warns Broward sheriff to help ICE enforce immigration laws

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he sent a two-page letter to Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony on Monday, demanding the Sheriff’s Office’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and threatening consequences up to and including removal from office if Tony were to fail to comply. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel, file photo)

By RAFAEL OLMEDA | rolmeda@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel

PUBLISHED: June 9, 2025 at 2:26 PM EDT

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony defended himself and his agency Monday against accusations he was not taking his obligations on immigration seriously enough.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent Tony a letter early Monday warning that he could be removed from office if he did not clarify statements that left Uthmeier with the impression he would not be helping the feds enforce immigration law.

“I would hope your statements were mere political posturing, but if not, your expressed positions would constitute a failure of your statutory obligation to utilize ‘the best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law'” under Florida statutes, Uthmeier wrote.

A week earlier, Tony had told members of the Broward County Commission that the Sheriff’s Office has been in compliance with requirements, working with federal partners, while there also are many other law enforcement demands across Broward. “We have other priorities in this community that I’m focused on, and immigration is not one of them, not to dismiss the importance of that.”

It’s important to focus on the “criminal component,” Tony said. “I don’t care what country you’re from; if you commit a crime in this county, I’m coming for you,” he said at the June 3 meeting.

He said he would not be conducting immigration raids on behalf of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. “What I refuse to do is take this notion that we need to be knocking on doors or arresting children or going into day care centers or restaurants and taking and snatching people off these streets who have been paying taxes and contributing to this society in some positive form regardless of if they are a U.S. citizen or not. It’s not within our purview, it’s not within our responsibility and I won’t participate in it.”

Later Monday, Tony reasserted his position in a response letter to Uthmeier.

“It is BSO’s priority to address criminal activity within our community, including crimes committed by unauthorized aliens, and to work with our federal partners in this endeavor,” he wrote after affirming his commitment to the agreements made with the federal government since he took office in 2019.

Uthmeier’s letter, which he posted to social media, came in response to Tony telling County Commissioners “immigration is not one of” the priorities his office is pursuing.

Uthmeier demanded a clarification.

Since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January, Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted several agreements between the state and ICE, vowing to use state law enforcement resources to assist in the enforcement of immigration law. In late February, DeSantis said all the state’s 67 sheriffs had signed an agreement with ICE, demonstrating their cooperation with the federal agency.

The governor has floated the idea of suspending local officials from office if they don’t follow the law.

That threat came in the last line of Uthmeier’s letter to Tony, in which he reminded the sheriff that his duties under the law were not optional.

“The law isn’t satisfied by entering obligations you have no intention of fulfilling,” he wrote. “Florida law unambiguously and intentionally requires more. … Penalties for failure to adhere to the obligations set forth [include] … being held in contempt or removal from office by the governor.”

Tony was appointed sheriff in early 2019 as one of Republican DeSantis’ first acts in office. He has since won election twice as a Democrat.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.

Originally Published: June 9, 2025 at 2:26 PM EDT