U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to be in civil contempt of court on Tuesday after discovering that law enforcement continued to enforce state immigration laws and cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Judge Williams, appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, said Uthmeier violated a directive to notify police agencies that a temporary restraining order forbade them from enforcing the law under SB 4-C, which specifically targets illegal aliens coming into the state.
“Uthmeier’s role endows him with a unique capacity to uphold or undermine the rule of law, and when he does the latter by violating a court order, the integrity of the legal system depends on his conduct being within the court’s remedial reach,” Williams said in a ruling shared by The Tallahasee Democrat.
Williams issued the temporary restraining order to block enforcement after Uthmeier sent a letter to police on April 4, which was initiated after Florida's special legislative session in April that created state crimes for illegal aliens who arrive or come back into the state.
Soon after, Williams extended the restraining order to April 18 and demanded that Uthmeier issue a letter notifying law enforcement that they could not enforce the law. The order was triggered after reports of immigration arrests by the state.
Uthmeier issued a letter, but days later sent another defying the contempt issue. The attorney general reacted defiantly to the judge's order in a social media post on Tuesday.
"If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump's agenda on illegal immigration, so be it," Uthmeier said.
The attorney general argued that since he was named in the restraining order, the ruling should only apply to him, and not to unnamed police.
Williams disagreed, saying it violated her order. Uthmeier is appealing the preliminary injunction after a series of back-and-forth arguments with Williams to show cause to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where it is pending.
