Defying Miami ‘Obama’ judge on immigration is political theater and a dangerous move | Opinion

The Trump administration has ushered in a new era in immigration enforcement — one focused on achieving the president’s agenda at all costs, even when it means bypassing due process, ignoring a judge’s order or calling for another judge’s impeachment.

Trump’s allies certainly feel they received a mandate from voters after last year’s elections to crack down on undocumented migrants with full force. But the U.S. is still a country of checks and balances — something that could be at risk as Trump’s allies test how far they can go in defying the courts.

In Florida, a federal judge is considering whether to hold state Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt of court for telling law enforcement agencies they did not have to follow her orders blocking a new state immigration law.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of Miami found that a law passed by the Legislature during a special session in February making it a misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants to come into the state of Florida is unconstitutional because only federal authorities can enforce immigration law. Uthmeier initially told law enforcement to stop enforcing the state law but withdrew his recommendation days later, saying local and state police could continue to arrest migrants.

Uthmeier has argued that the judge’s ruling applies only to the named defendants in a lawsuit filed by advocacy groups challenging the law: his office, Florida’s statewide prosecutor and the various state attorneys in Florida. State lawyers wrote in a court filing that Williams’ order does not apply to “independent” law enforcement agencies, such as the Florida Highway Patrol and local police.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has backed Uthmeier, saying this week the role of the judiciary is “not to go outside the bounds of judicial policy or judicial role and try to enact policy.” A spokesman for Uthmeier’s office has called Williams’ order “lawfare” by an “Obama-appointed judge.”

The point appears to be: Florida’s Republican-controlled government will only follow orders from judges officials see as legitimate, not those with whom they disagree. That could set a precedent for governments run by either party to continue to enforce laws after they that are found unconstitutional by de-legitimizing the country’s judiciary and the force of judicial orders.

For years, the GOP has called federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents or those who rule against the party’s policies “activists.” But what Uthmeier and the Trump administration are doing goes further.

Trump and his allies, for example, have called for impeaching judges who ruled against his administration, including U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who blocked the deportation of Venezuelan migrants. In mid April, Boasberg said he had found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court for not following his order to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.

Trump’s attacks on the judiciary prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare statement saying that “impeachment [of judges] is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

As Roberts wrote, the American tradition for two centuries has been to use the appeals process if a defendant doesn’t agree with a judge’s reasoning. In Uthmeier’s case, not only does he have the ability to appeal Williams’ ruling, his office has done just that, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to allow law enforcement to continue to arrest immigrants who violate the state law.

Williams has said she was “offended” to hear that Florida’s attorney general does not consider her order legitimate. She also scolded state lawyers after FHP arrested more than a dozen people, including a U.S. citizen, despite her ordering them to stop on April 4, the Herald reported.

The judge has scheduled a hearing for late May and wants Uthmeier to explain why she should not hold him in contempt of her order.

This case should have never escalated to the point of Florida’s top lawyer potentially being held in contempt of court. Sure, Uthmeier’s fight with a judge may help his standing politically, but is it good for our democracy?

Click here to send the letter.

This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 2:49 PM.