Gabrielle Russon
Attorney General James Uthmeier is appealing a federal Judge’s ruling holding him in contempt as part of an ongoing lawsuit over Florida’s new immigration law.
Uthmeier’s lawyer filed a notice appealing U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ contempt ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, according to media reports.
At issue is one of the laws passed during Florida’s Special Session earlier this year over illegal immigration that makes it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to enter Florida. The Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworker Association of Florida were among the plaintiffs who sued in April and argued immigration enforcement is already under federal jurisdiction.
Williams issued a temporary restraining order to block the enforcement of the law and ordered Uthmeier to send a letter to law enforcement agencies alerting them that they could not enforce the law.
But instead, Uthmeier wrote an April 23 letter to law enforcement agencies saying he could not prevent them from enforcing the law, arguing that because are not parties to the case, they can’t be bound by the restraining order. That led Williams to find him in contempt of court.
Uthmeier has sounded defiant as he has posted on social media and done interviews regarding the case.
“If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President (Donald) Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration, so be it,” he wrote on X.
He told podcaster Josh Hammer, “The Judge in Miami … wants to hold me in contempt because I said I would not … order law enforcement to stand down on our immigration laws. And it’s because none of these law enforcement agencies she wanted me to direct are even parties to the case.”
Meanwhile, Uthmeier’s lawyers have previously said the AG is following the Judge’s temporary restraining order and not enforcing the law, though they also argued he is free to give his opinion with her ruling, according to media reports.
