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Help ICE or lose your job, Florida attorney general tells Broward sheriff
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony to enforce immigration laws or risk removal from office after recent remarks.
Looks like Mr. Sheriff Four Star is going to have to shape-up.....The crux of it is the Broward Sheriff danced around the immigration issue, saying it wouldn't be prioritized.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony responded to the Florida attorney general’s letter mandating his department to support the enforcement of federal immigration law with a statement saying “it is BSO’s priority to address criminal activity within our community, including crimes committed by unauthorized aliens.”
Last week Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said his department will not prioritize arresting undocumented immigrants who haven’t committed crimes. On Monday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the sheriff that could cost him his job.
Uthmeier posted a strongly worded letter Monday morning addressed to Tony on X lambasting remarks the sheriff made during a June 3 Broward County Commission budget workshop meeting, in which he said that there are “other priorities in this community that I’m focused on, and immigration is not one of them.”
“I don’t care what country you’re from. If you commit a crime in this county, I’m coming for you,” Tony said during the meeting. “But what I refuse to do is take this notion that we need to be knocking on doors or arresting children or going into day care centers or restaurants and taking and snatching people off these streets who have been paying taxes and contributing to this society in some positive form regardless of if they are a U.S. citizen or not. It’s not within our purview, it’s not within our responsibility, and I won’t participate in it.”
Tony’s June 3 comments appear to put him at odds with President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to aid in the president’s goals.
In February, DeSantis touted that all 67 of the state’s sheriffs signed a ‘Task Force Model’ agreement with ICE that gives deputies some immigration authority under the 287(g) program, including the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
‘Participation is not optional’
Uthmeier’s letter stated that Tony must comply with a Florida Statute that says “state and local law enforcement agencies and any official responsible for directing or supervising such agency shall use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law.”“You are such an official, and therefore must use ‘best efforts’ to work with federal immigration authorities, including United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” Uthmeier wrote in the letter. “Your statements to the contrary suggest you misunderstand or intend to flout these requirements under Florida law.”
Penalties for failing to adhere to the law, Uthmeier wrote, include “declaratory and injunctive relief, being held in contempt, or removal from office by the Governor.”
