Judge dismisses South Miami’s 287g lawsuit, but mayor says he got his answer

A state judge on Wednesday rebuffed a South Florida city asking the courts to clarify whether municipalities must join formal immigration-enforcement partnerships with the federal government or run afoul of Florida’s sanctuary city laws.

But South Miami’s mayor says he got the answer he needed from the DeSantis administration’s attorneys, who said during oral arguments that the state does not require every municipality to team up with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under a 287 (g) agreement — as long as they don’t take a position against teaming up.

“So long as we don’t do anything to not approve a 287(g) agreement, we are not violating the statute. I took that to mean there is no mandate,” Mayor Javier Fernandez told the Miami Herald. “If the state brings forward any attempts to enforce or levy any threats for alleged violations, we’ll revisit that posture. But I don’t think we have to necessarily appeal at this time.”

Fernandez said that city leadership would have to discuss what would happen next.

South Miami filed its lawsuit in March at Fernandez’s urging after Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened officials in Fort Myers with possible removal over their rejection of 287(g) agreements partnering police and ICE. Uthmeier said it was a violation of Florida’s sanctuary city laws, which bar local governments from limiting cooperation with ICE.

South Miami argued that it was not required to join the partnerships and raised questions about insurance coverage, increased liability and resource strain on the city police department.

The lawsuit asked Leon County Judge Jonathan Sjostrom to determine whether state law mandated they join the 287(g) program, which grants limited powers of ICE agents to local cops.

Sjostrom’s ruling won’t exactly put the issue to bed. Rather than give an opinion, the judge wrote Wednesday that South Miami — which has not rejected an agreement — had jumped the gun by filing a lawsuit before facing any punishment.

The judge also wrote that the threats the city cited in its complaint were issued to different jurisdictions, and were not penned by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the only state official with the power to suspend local politicians from office.

“The letter does not create a case or controversy for a City to whom no such letter was directed,” he wrote. “This City’s lawsuit, at least, is premature.”

‘Political Pressure Applied by Political Actors’

As part of his mass deportation efforts, President Donald Trump has pushed state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal agents. With 326 active agreements, Florida has the largest number of agreements in the country.

Florida statutes say that all county jail operators must enter into 287(g) agreements with ICE, but does not explicitly require municipalities like South Miami to do so.

During oral arguments last month, state lawyers said that South Miami was not violating that law. They said the difference between the postures of South Miami and cities like Fort Myers was about “an action that impedes versus inaction.” While South Miami officials had not acted on a 287(g) agreement, and made public assurances that they wanted to remain compliant with Florida law, other cities had put the compacts to a vote and rejected them. On Wednesday, Sjostrom declined to say whether Uthmeier had overstepped, ruling that “it is outside of the responsibility of the courts to address the communications of political officials in their leadership.”

“Political pressure applied by political actors to other political actors provides no basis for judicial intervention. Likewise, the City’s assertion of good faith to comply … generally, suggests the wisdom of judicial restraint, not intervention,” wrote the judge.

Uthmeier on Wednesday celebrated Sjostrom’s decision on social media, casting South Miami’s lawsuit as “an attempt to prevent us from enforcing federal immigration law.”

“What you probably won’t see in the headlines is that South Miami just lost after a judge agreed with our motion to dismiss our case, ” he wrote on X.

Fernandez said that the purpose of the case had not been to prevent the state from enforcing federal immigration law. He also told the Herald that the role of the attorney general was to help municipalities and counties to interpret the law and said that Uthmeier was “politicizing the decision.”

“That kind of statement is consistent with his penchant to be a politician first than the chief law enforcement officer,” said Fernandez.

This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 7:28 PM.