James Uthmeier responds to Sheriffs’ immigration enforcement concerns

Republican law enforcement officials on the State Immigration Enforcement Council may be having second thoughts about aggressive immigration enforcement, but Attorney General James Uthmeier says they have a job to do.

“What I’ll say is in Florida, we’re going to keep enforcing the law. That is our job, as law enforcement, to enforce the law that’s on the books. If people are here illegally, then they are breaking the law, and we are going to enforce it,” Uthmeier said at a news conference in Orlando.

“At the end of the day, even if people have been, you know, welcomed here on some temporary status, we’ve seen it still jeopardize public safety.”

The AG’s comments come in the wake of one of the state’s best-known Sheriffs calling for a course correction.

“While Congress sits on their hands and does nothing about this, we are on the ground floor with this day in and day out — looking in the eyes of these folks that, yes, came here inappropriately. But some came here inappropriately only to do better for themselves and their family,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during Monday’s State Immigration Enforcement Council meeting.

Uthmeier noted that earlier this year, Judd worked with his office on a sting “arresting and charging over 250 individuals in a weeklong period that were trying to go molest little kids,” with more than 50 “here illegally.”

“I don’t write the law, I enforce it. These guys enforce it. I know our Sheriffs, there’s probably no better example of enforcing the law in the whole country than Grady Judd and some of the other Sheriffs,” Uthmeier added.

Judd plans to write a letter to President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson seeking clarity on federal immigration enforcement priorities. It’s a sign that after more than a year of aggressive policing of people in the country illegally, officers of the law want more specific guidance from the federal government.

Uthmeier said he would not support that letter.

As the Florida Phoenix reported, six of the eight members of the Council vocalized support for Judd’s position, suggesting daylight between the state’s “top cop” and some of his most prominent partners on the local level.