DeSantis says he will suspend Orange County mayor, commission if needed

Governor Ron DeSantis says he's prepared to suspend the Orange County Mayor and the County Commission if they don't comply with state immigration law.

The county has not signed onto an expanded agreement with ICE that would require them to transport detainees to detention facilities like the one in South Florida known as Alligator Alcatraz.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said noncompliance could result in the suspension of Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and the County Commission.

On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis, said he's suspended people from office before, and he's ready to do it again.

"And so what I do is, if it comes time, I look at the record, I look at my constitutional authority, we go through that analysis and then make decisions. But I think that I've shown that I'm willing to do that," said DeSantis.

DeSantis mentioned a number of public figures he's suspended in his two terms in office, including former Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, who refused to enforce Florida's abortion law. The governor suspended him in 2022.

He also suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel in 2019 for neglect of duty for his response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

DeSantis said it's against Florida law to act as a sanctuary city, which he and the Florida Attorney General accuse the county of doing by not signing onto the agreement with ICE.

Watch the governor's full press conference from Tampa on education, but also ICE:

DeSantis said he's ready to come down hard on Orange County to set an example.

"If you don't do it, even though Florida banned sanctuary cities, if you don't have an affirmative duty, what I think some of those areas, the Gainesvilles and the Orlandos and some of these little pockets around the state, they end up devolving into de facto sanctuary," said DeSantis.

Mayor Demings' office says the expanded ICE agreement will be taken up again at a meeting on August 5.

Demings and the commission had ultimately decided not to sign the expanded agreement at their July 15th meeting, saying transportation of detainees should be up to the federal government.

"I take a strong stance on transportation because that's not within our core responsibility as a county correctional facility to transport federal inmates to other federal detention facilities," Demings said. "That's the federal government's responsibility."

This isn't the first time the state and Orange County have been in public tussles.

Earlier this week, Orange County Government received notice they were being DOGE'd, a term used for a public, statewide audit of county expenses led by newly elected CFO Blaise Ingloglia and the state of Florida.

Read AG Uthmeier's letter to Demings: 
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