By Ryan Gillespie, Steven Lemongello, Stephen Hudak
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — Despite his fiery rhetoric this week that slammed removal threats from the “mean-spirited” Florida attorney general, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings on Friday signed a new agreement with immigration authorities that would allow local corrections officers to transport immigrant detainees to federal detention centers.
Demings’ capitulation on the issue came shortly before Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet appeared in Orlando Friday morning at the Florida Highway Patrol Troop D Headquarters, where the governor announced the creation of a new immigration unit within the Florida Highway Patrol.
Last month, the Orange Board of County Commissioners rejected the transport plan, with Demings contending that immigrant transport is a federal responsibility and such a plan would further tax his understaffed jail.
That set off a fury this week, with Attorney General James Uthmeier threatening to remove the mayor and commissioners from office if they didn’t sign such an agreement. Uthmeier said they could be kicked out for adopting a “sanctuary” policy because they were not putting forth their best efforts to support immigration enforcement.
Demings, a former Orange County Sheriff and Orlando Police Chief, fired back at Uthmeier, saying the county did not have “sanctuary” policies and he won’t back down to “mean-spirited” politics from “a young man that is over-aggressive.”
But a county attorney warned Demings and other commissioners that a new Florida immigration law — that DeSantis signed earlier this year — gave them little choice but to sign the agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Demings planned a press gathering at 4 p.m. to explain his decision to sign.
Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad said she was shocked the mayor had set aside his objections to allow corrections officers transport immigration detainees to far flung detention facilities like Alligator Alcatraz, but her meeting with county legal staff offered some insight.
She said County Attorney Jeff Newton outlined severe penalties facing the board — and mayor — if they said no.
“You’re in a corner. You’d be breaking state law and you will be replaced by an appointee of the governor,” she said Newton told her. “If you care about the people of Orange County, the best thing to do is to stay in your seat and find other ways to serve the public.”
Semrad also cited spending controversies with Glen Gilzean, a DeSantis appointee who was Election Supervisor for 10 months. He tried to use $2.1 million in taxpayer funds to create a scholarship fund at Valencia College in his own name, among other fiscal problems, officials said..
Commissioner Christine Moore, a Republican, said she had decided to flip her no vote on the transportation agreement for a similar reason.
“Yes, no question, yes,” she said about how she’d vote. “What good does it do for us to end up with seven Glen Gilzeans?”
At his Friday press conference, DeSantis did not initially mention Orange County, instead praising FHP and the state’s overall immigration removal policies. “There’s no other state in the country that can match our efforts,” DeSantis said. “In fact, there’s no other state that is even in the ballpark of our efforts.”
But in response to questions about the standoff with the county, and whether he would have removed Demings if the mayor continued to resist, DeSantis said he expected “everybody to fulfill their obligations under law.”
“If you don’t meet your obligations under that under the law, if you don’t fulfill the duties that have been imposed upon you, you absolutely will be suspended,” DeSantis said. “The reality is, I just want to get it right. I just want to land the plane right. And so I’m glad it worked out that way.”
He added if any local government was “upset about transporting and you would rather just release [detainees], then any crime that happens is on you for doing that.”
DeSantis also dismissed Demings’ concerns about the costs to the county for ICE transport, saying that the state had created a pool of grant funding as part of its package of immigration laws, which cities and counties can access if they apply.
“We want to get the funding out the door for localities,” the governor said. “They’ll use it well and it will enhance the mission.”
While Demings’ statement said he would be taking the new ICE agreement to the board for ratification, it was unclear if the board needs to legally approve Demings’ decision. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava quietly signed a similar agreement last month without informing that county’s board.
Despite the war of words this week, Uthmeier also did not specifically mention Orange County in his Friday remarks, instead lashing out at “Democrat officials” critical of his creation, the Alligator Alcatraz detention camp in the Everglades.
He also echoed right-wing rhetoric in claiming “the Left” wanted to replace the United States’ voter base. “We almost lost the country,” Uthmeier said. “They wanted to change the makeup of our country as we know it, and thank God they weren’t able to get away with it.”
Shortly afterward, Uthmeier posted to X, “Thank you, Mayor Demings, for changing course this morning and doing what is right and required by Florida law. We appreciate Orange County’s efforts to support ICE with immigration enforcement.”
Uthmeier posted his statement atop a Wednesday post from Demings in which the former sheriff had attacked the 37-year-old Uthmeier, writing that he “spent more years on the streets of Florida, patrolling as a law enforcement officer, than [Uthmeier’s] been alive.”
The Friday news conference also came as the county prepares for an audit from the Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE, an entity overseen by Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. Ingoglia also did not mention Orange specifically in his own remarks at the news conference.
DeSantis said the new FHP immigration unit will be a “team of mission-dedicated troopers, [who] will work in close contact with local, state and federal law enforcement partners to identify, locate and apprehend criminal aliens across the state,” DeSantis said.
David Kerner, the executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said that while 2,000 FHP troopers were “already out there doing the Lord’s work,” the new unit “will be 24/7.”
“We’re about to have hundreds, if not thousands of sheriff’s deputies and police department officers coming online,” Kerner said. “This unit will be responsible for coordinating with the federal government and making sure we’re maximizing our utility as law enforcement officers to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants.”
—
©2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
