State Attorney General James Uthmeier is urging a judge to toss out a lawsuit that questions whether Florida cities and towns are required to enter immigration-enforcement agreements with the federal government.
Uthmeier's office filed a motion arguing that a Leon County circuit judge should dismiss the case, which the city of South Miami filed in March, a little more than a month after state lawmakers passed a package of changes to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
The lawsuit centers on what are known as 287(g) agreements, which local governments can enter with the federal government to provide training and authority to local police to help enforce immigration laws. It also involves a years-long effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature to prevent so-called "sanctuary" cities in Florida.
The state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit said a law passed during a February special legislative session "placed greater obligations on local governments to execute 287(g) agreements and gave them more tools to do so."
But in the lawsuit, South Miami is seeking a ruling that it is not obligated to enter a 287(g) agreement and that it would not be considered a sanctuary city — a designation that carries penalties — if it does not enter such an agreement.
The lawsuit said several "considerations bear on the city's decision whether to approve entering into a 287(g) agreement, having nothing to do with agreement or disagreement with federal immigration policy or a desire to avoid cooperation with federal immigration authorities." Those factors include increased police costs, increased liability for police actions taken under a 287(g) agreement and workers' compensation issues if officers get injured.
In part, South Miami contends that the law requires operators of county jails to enter into 287(g) agreements but does not include such a requirement for cities.
"The fact that the Legislature required county-level agencies to enter into 287(g) agreements shows that it knew how to enact that requirement if it wanted to," said the lawsuit, filed March 27. "As compelled by applicable interpretive canons … the Legislature's express specification that a failure to enter into a 287(g) agreement by only operators of county facilities can constitute a sanctuary policy, while failing to make any mention or requirement of municipalities, shows a contrary intention as to municipalities."
But in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Uthmeier's office raised a series of issues, including that South Miami didn't have legal standing to file the case. It said the city had not provided "near enough facts to assess whether they have enacted, or plan to enact, a sanctuary policy."
"Plaintiffs do not allege that South Miami has 'adopted' any policy, practice or custom of blocking 287(g) agreements," the motion, filed May 16, said. "Nor do they assert that they have 'allowed' their local police department to enact any categorical ban on 287(g) agreements. And they offer far from enough facts to assess whether South Miami has promulgated those policies 'implicitly.'"
The state's motion also disputed the city's underlying arguments about the law. It said, for example, that a "municipality's failure to execute a 287(g) agreement can indeed reveal a sanctuary policy."
"The municipality's failure to approve an agreement when considered alongside other facts — like a police department's willingness to execute the agreement — can be strong evidence that the municipality has a categorical bar on 287(g) agreements, just as the sanctuary-policies law forbids," the motion said.
The lawsuit came after a highly publicized episode in which the Fort Myers City Council initially did not approve entering a 287(g) agreement that had been supported by the city's police department. The Fort Myers council reversed course after Uthmeier sent a letter that said by "failing to approve the department's 287(g) agreement, Fort Myers is implicitly implementing a sanctuary policy" and threatened penalties.
The state's motion to dismiss the case said 254 Florida "jurisdictions" had entered 287(g) agreements, though it did not detail how many of those were cities or towns as opposed to other types of government bodies.
The lawsuit has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom.
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