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- Mayor Jerry Demings signed an agreement with ICE under duress from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier.
- Demings stated he acted to protect local officials from being removed from office due to threats.
- ICE allows conscription of local law enforcement for immigration law enforcement in Florida.
- Immigration enforcement has drastically changed under the Trump administration, with increased raids in protected areas.
- Public opinion has shifted; 79% now view immigration positively, challenging the Trump administration's policies.
August 8, 2025
Demings said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened to suspend local officials from office without the agreement.
Orange County, Florida, Mayor Jerry Demings said that he signed an agreement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to threats from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier.
During a news conference Monday, Demings told reporters that his decision was made “under protest and in extreme duress.”
“Yes, I signed the damn thing because we really had to. We were put in a tough spot,” Demings said during the news conference. “I can’t let our entire board of county commissioners and myself be removed from office.”
Demings said he felt it was the right thing to do at the right time as DeSantis and Uthmeier threatened to suspend local officials from office. The agreement allows ICE to conscript local law enforcement, including correctional officers, to detain and transport people who are violating Florida immigration laws to federal detention facilities, NBC News reports.
ICE Immigration Enforcement Increases Beyond Florida
In Florida, DeSantis has exerted his executive power to suspend Democratic leaders who fail to comply with the Trump administration’s far-right agenda. DeSantis has already removed two Democratic prosecutors since 2022.
While Trump campaigned on fixing the immigration problem in the United States by getting rid of violent undocumented criminals, there are multiple reports of people with no criminal record being detained. Since Trump took office in January 2025, immigration enforcement has changed drastically. ICE agents have raided places that have historically been protected, such as courts, hospitals, schools, and churches.
According to an investigation by The Seattle Times, immigration enforcement has increased nationwide, with many of those arrested in Washington and nationwide not having a criminal record. Nationally, ICE’s monthly arrest average has more than doubled what it was in Biden’s last 16 full months, its investigation found.
New data, however, show that the majority of the country disapproves of the Trump administration’s handling of immigration. According to Brookings, overall attitudes about immigration have made a U-turn. Support for decreasing immigration has fallen by nearly half, to just 30%, and a record-high 79% now consider immigration to be good for the country.
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