'We signed the damn thing': Mayor furious after threats force him to make ICE agreement [View all]

Source: Raw Story

August 2, 2025 4:08PM ET


Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings signed an updated agreement with U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) on Friday, although he later said he did so under “protest and extreme duress.”

It came days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened the mayor and all six county commissioners that their failure to do so would result in their removal from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Yes, we signed the damn thing because we really had to. We were put in a tough spot,” Demings said during a late afternoon press conference in Orlando. “I can’t let our entire board of county commissioners and myself be removed from office.”

Demings signed an addendum to modify the 287(g) Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Memorandum of Agreement that will allow county jail officials to transport immigration detainees to ICE facilities — although he said he still needs to assess the readiness of his corrections department staff to do so while keeping everyone safe at the county jail. He said that there are 212 vacancies within the Orange County corrections department right now, a vacancy rate of 24%.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/we-signed-the-damn-thing-mayor-furious-after-being/