Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings signed the ICE agreement under "protest and extreme duress" – because DeSantis left him no choice.
Tampa's Jane Castor just got the same letter Demings got.
She has until March 31 to reverse her sanctuary policies or face removal from office by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Florida AG Has Been Running This Play for a Year and Nobody Survives It
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a formal letter to Castor on March 11, accusing the Tampa Police Department of running sanctuary policies that violate state law.
The specific violation: TPD has internal rules blocking officers from sharing immigration status information about crime victims and witnesses with ICE.
Castor's defense is that withholding that information builds trust with immigrant communities.
Uthmeier wasn't buying it.
"We want illegal aliens to fear immigration consequences to the extent that they are here unlawfully," he wrote.
Every Democrat who tested this AG backed down the moment removal became real.
In March 2025, Uthmeier threatened Fort Myers City Council members with removal for blocking a 287(g) agreement with ICE – they flipped within days.
In June 2025, Key West voided its 287(g) agreement and Uthmeier declared them a sanctuary city – they reversed the vote within a week.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2031777436510060757?s=20
In July 2025, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings refused an ICE request to transport illegal aliens to detention facilities.
He signed in August – bitterly – telling reporters he was doing it under duress.
"I can't let our entire board of county commissioners and myself be removed from office," Demings said.
Castor Spent June Telling the Country She Would Never Play Along
The timing here is not subtle.
At the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June 2025, Castor – a former Tampa police chief – delivered a full-throated case for keeping local cops out of immigration enforcement.
She told the crowd that immigrant crime victims "are not comfortable reporting that crime because they do not trust law enforcement."
She told WLRN that having more immigration officers than city police in a city is "an occupation."
She said she would do "everything in my power" to avoid participating in that kind of enforcement.
That was nine months before she received Uthmeier's letter.
Her statement in response was careful – Tampa "will review the concerns raised" and "evaluate our policies and procedures."
That is not defiance.
That is someone calculating whether she can afford to lose her job over this.
DeSantis Already Did This in Castor's Own Backyard
Florida banned sanctuary policies in 2019.
DeSantis strengthened that statute in 2025, requiring municipalities to use "best efforts" to support federal immigration law – then armed Uthmeier to enforce it aggressively.
https://twitter.com/JamesUthmeierFL/status/2032474935298347316?s=20
The pattern has held without exception.
DeSantis has also used his removal power before – and close to home for Castor.
In 2022 he removed Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren for refusing to enforce state law.
Warren lost his bid to return to office last year.
That is the precedent sitting on Castor's desk.
She is in her second term, which runs through May 2027.
If she refuses to comply by March 31, DeSantis removes her – and under Tampa's city charter, the City Council Chair becomes acting mayor.
One more detail Castor cannot ignore: Uthmeier's office was alerted to TPD's sanctuary policy partly through a state tip line where law enforcement officers report departments not enforcing immigration law.
Someone inside Tampa's own police department made that call.
Sources:
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, Letter to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, March 11, 2026.
- Tampa Free Press, "Florida Attorney General Threatens To Remove Tampa Mayor Over 'Sanctuary' Policies," March 12, 2026.
- Florida Phoenix, "Jane Castor is the latest local official AG Uthmeier has threatened to remove from office," March 12, 2026.
- WLRN, "Florida AG threatens Tampa mayor's removal over police 'sanctuary policies'," March 12, 2026.
- WFLA/The Hill, "Florida attorney general threatens Tampa mayor with removal over immigration policies," March 12, 2026.
