TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Police Department’s policy regarding immigration enforcement has been revised after Florida’s attorney general accused Mayor Jane Castor of violating state laws.
Attorney General James Uthmeier had threatened to remove Castor from office if changes were not made by the end of March. He claimed the mayor was “forcing sanctuary policies” on the police department and not allowing officers to share certain information with federal immigration authorities.
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The attorney general particularly took issue with the police department withholding information about the legal status of victims and witnesses of crimes — a policy that seeks to reassure immigrants that they will not face deportation if they report a crime.
The mayor replied to the attorney general in a letter dated March 16, stating that she had reviewed the police department’s policy and made revisions.
“We intend to publish and distribute the updated policy to our officers effective immediately,” the mayor wrote. “The City of Tampa has no intentions of violating state or federal law. We will continue to use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law, as well as state law.”
The mayor’s office provided copies of the former and current policy. Much of the policy appeared to be unchanged. However, revisions were made to a section titled “standards and limitations for immigration enforcement.”
A subsection was reworded, now citing language directly from Florida statute regarding immigration policies, and specifying under what circumstances officers don’t have to share information related to a victim or witness with federal immigration authorities. This includes when a person is necessary to the investigation of a crime and is cooperating with police, per the updated policy.
The section previously read, “Officers are not required to share information with federal immigration authorities regarding victims or witnesses of crime, nor shall they inquire into or investigate the immigration status of cooperative victims, witnesses, or individuals requesting police services.”
8 On Your Side showed the revisions to the President of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, Brandon Barclay.
“I don’t think there was a concerted effort to say we’re not going to be in compliance. So I think it was just a matter of interpretation. And clearly the city got the interpretation wrong,” Barclay said. “Knowing the mayor, being the former police chief, I knew that she would immediately come in compliance with whatever was required.”
Part of the section also previously described how “these restrictions are intended to foster and preserve trust between the department and immigrant communities, ensuring that individuals feel safe reporting crimes.”
However, that paragraph was changed to directly cite state statute. It now reads, “Florida Statute 908.104 (9) does not authorize a law enforcement agency to detain an alien unlawfully present in the United States pursuant to an immigration detainer solely because the alien witnessed or reported a crime or was a victim of a criminal offense.”
A third paragraph was completely nixed from the TPD policy. The removed paragraph previously stated that “officers are prohibited from engaging in broad-based immigration enforcement actions (e.g. workplace enforcement operations, traffic checkpoints, area saturation sweeps).”
Uthmeier appeared to respond to the policy changes in a post on X.
He wrote, “Mayor Castor is no longer forcing sanctuary policies on Tampa PD, and the city is revoking the policy immediately. Florida is proud to be the Trump admin’s number one partner on immigration enforcement, and local officials will not impede enforcement of the law!”
“I don’t think the feds are targeting victims of a crime as a whole anyway. So I think this was just a lot of political chatter and noise,” Barclay said. “One, there’s not that many officers that are on the immigration task force. So it affects so, so few people at the department that I don’t know the case, one that this actually affects.”
Mayor Castor has previously been vocal about her stance on immigration enforcement. She stated during a June 2025 press conference that immigrants who become victims of crimes are not comfortable reporting them “because they do not trust law enforcement, and that is the fundamental reason that local law enforcement should not be engaged in immigration enforcement.”
Tampa City Council Chairman Alan Clendenin provided the following statement:
“The City of Tampa is a strong, safe city and we don’t have issues. We fully support the Tampa Police Department. The policy changes are not a realignment, it is appeasing the Attorney General and his criticism for whatever reason. The reality of law enforcement in Tampa is the same yesterday, and we are and will be the same safe city tomorrow and it’s because of support of law enforcement.”
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