a striking effort among some of the state\u2019s top sheriffs<\/a> to soften immigration enforcement, saying he would not support their plan to formally urge Congress to scale back federal deportation policy.<\/p>\nAt a press conference in Orlando, Uthmeier drew a firm line against a newly emerging stance from members of Florida\u2019s State Immigration Enforcement Council, who yesterday broke with the state\u2019s traditionally hardline approach and called for more leniency toward undocumented immigrants without criminal records.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t write the law \u2014 I enforce it,\u201d Uthmeier said. \u201cIf people are here illegally, then they are breaking the law, and we are going to enforce it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments put Uthmeier squarely at odds with Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and other council members, who suggested Monday that some undocumented immigrants \u2014 particularly those who are working, raising families and have no criminal history \u2014 should be allowed to remain in the country under certain conditions.<\/p>\n
Judd, a longtime ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis and a key architect of Florida\u2019s aggressive immigration posture, even floated drafting a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders urging a more targeted approach to deportations.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier made clear Tuesday he is not on board and said he \u201cwould not support the letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The response underscores a sharp and unusual divide within Florida\u2019s Republican law enforcement ranks. For years, state leaders under DeSantis have pushed sweeping cooperation with federal immigration authorities, with policies premised on the idea that any undocumented immigrant in the country is in violation of the law and subject to removal.<\/p>\n
But several sheriffs on the state council argued at a meeting on Monday that the current approach may be too broad, warning that mass deportation efforts are sweeping up people who are contributing members of their communities.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier, however, rejected that distinction, pointing to cases in which undocumented immigrants committed serious crimes and arguing that immigration violations themselves carry public safety risks.<\/p>\n
He also credited Florida\u2019s aggressive enforcement strategy with broader public safety gains, citing declining crime rates and a significant drop in fentanyl-related deaths.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the safest big state in the country to raise a family, and we\u2019re going to keep it that way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The attorney general also reiterated that local governments do not have discretion to opt out of immigration enforcement, referencing recent state outreach to cities like Tampa. Under Florida law, he said, local officials are required to use their \u201cbest efforts\u201d to assist federal authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not optional,\u201d Uthmeier said. \u201cWe are not going to have sanctuary jurisdictions in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 12:10 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, right, speaks alongside federal and state law enforcement officials during a press conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[90952,28,7912,30,29,2423,12831,90953],"class_list":["post-196013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-deportation-policy","tag-florida","tag-florida-attorney-general","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-grady-judd","tag-immigration-enforcement","tag-sheriffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MIA_05UTHEMEIERINMIAMI.JPG\" "\\"Florida")
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