An Obama-appointed federal judge has found Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier in civil contempt of court for following the state’s immigration law.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams found Uthmeier in contempt after he ignored a temporary restraining order on a state immigration law, Fox News reported.
Uthmeier defied the order in support of President Donald Trump’s border security agenda.
On April 29, Judge Williams had demanded Uthmeier demonstrate “why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned” for violating the restraining order.
She was unmoved by Uthmeier’s reasoning and handed down this week’s ruling.
Meanwhile, Uthmeier held it up as a badge of honor.
“If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration, so be it,” he posted to X on Tuesday.
If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration, so be it. https://t.co/PPrFEapaKv
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 17, 2025
In February, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state law to make it a criminal offence for illegal aliens to enter the Sunshine State.
Predictably, the Florida Immigrant Coalition and other pro-illegal immigration groups sued the state.
The judge ordered a 14-day temporary restraining order on April 4 and extended it for an additional 11 days after the Florida Highway Patrol made several arrests under the law, including one American citizen.
In all, about a dozen arrests were made under the new law.
Beginning April 18, Florida law enforcement officials were bound under the temporary restraining order to halt additional arrests.
It was up to Uthmeier to notify law enforcement throughout the state, which he did at first.
However, the attorney general apparently had a change of heart and sent a follow-up on April 23 advising officers “no judicial order…properly restrains you from” making arrests under the state’s immigration law.
Utmeier insisted that “no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce” the state statute.
This move led the court to demand that Uthmeier defend his violation and prevent a contempt charge, which he clearly was unable to do.
Uthmeier has never wavered from his assertion that the temporary restraining order is unjust and that he doesn’t need to follow it.
When faced with Williams’ order, Uthmeier doubled down on his rejection of Williams’ order, NBC News reported.
“This judge is considering whether or not to hold me in contempt,” Uthmeier said in a May 6 interview, Williams recounted to implicate him.
“But I am not going to rubber-stamp her order,” Williams quoted Uthmeier as saying.
“I’m not going to direct law enforcement to stand down on enforcing the Trump agenda and carrying out Florida’s law.”
“I’m not going to bow down,” he added.
Uthmeier said in a separate interview that Williams is “issuing this order and saying you gotta tell them all to stand down.
“I’m not gonna do that,” he declared.
This sealed the deal for Uthmeier’s contempt charge.
Williams noted that he was “free to broadcast his continued appeal of the Court’s injunction and his view that the Court’s rulings are erroneous,” but that when it came to law enforcement officials under his authority, he wasn’t allowed to “tell them otherwise.”
The states are suffering from the federal government’s failure to enforce immigration laws, and have responded accordingly with legislation.
The judge’s temporary restraining order put Florida at a disadvantage, and Utmeier’s defiance is an attempt to stand up for Floridians and Trump’s immigration crackdown.
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