The governor could remove Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, the city’s first female police chief, from office for not disclosing the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. Photo: City of Tampa.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has threatened to remove Tampa Mayor Jane Castor from office for failing to fully comply with immigration enforcement efforts.
In a letter addressed to Castor and posted to X on Wednesday, Uthmeir claimed that the Tampa Police Department is violating “several Florida laws” by not disclosing the immigration status of crime victims or witnesses.
“Mayor Castor is forcing sanctuary policies on the Tampa Police Department (TPD),” Uthmeir captioned the post. “These policies must be reversed immediately, or there will be consequences.”
Florida’s “anti-sanctuary” law, which Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri helped shape in 2019, prohibits any action that “impedes local law enforcement agencies from cooperating or communicating with a federal immigration agency.” The statute was updated in 2025, and Uthmeier noted that local jurisdictions must now “use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
However, a court has yet to define “best efforts.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently highlighted the law’s broad reach.
Local organizations have also warned of the law’s paralyzing effect on crime victims and witnesses. Isaret Jeffers, founder of the Tree Collective, which supports Tampa area farmworkers, told NBC News that several undocumented women are enduring rather than reporting abuse from their partners due to deportation fears.
Uthmeier’s letter acknowledges Tampa’s alleged policy benefits crime victims and witnesses – not the perpetrators. “TPD ostensibly supports these policies because they do not want illegal aliens to be concerned with immigration consequences by cooperating with law enforcement,” he wrote.
“But we want illegal immigrants to fear immigration consequences to the extent that they are here unlawfully.”
TPD’s policies also prohibit officers from participating in “broad-based immigration enforcement actions,” Uthmeier claimed. He said the agency’s ambiguous restrictions are “precisely the sort of conduct that Florida law prohibits and plainly fails the ‘best efforts’ test. You must do better.”
Uthmeier gave Castor until March 31 to reverse “unlawful” immigration policies. “Failure to do so will risk the enforcement of all applicable civil penalties, including removal from office by the governor,” he concluded.
Gov. Ron DeSantis removed Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren from office in 2022 due to an alleged dereliction of duty to enforce state laws regarding abortion, gender-affirming care, and a pledge not to prosecute low-level crimes, including trespassing at business locations and disorderly conduct.
Tampa and St. Petersburg participate in the 287(g) program, which enables limited cooperation between local officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Castor, currently serving a second term that ends in May 2027, said in a prepared statement that she is reviewing Uthmeier’s concerns and evaluating policies and procedures” to ensure that we use best efforts to support” federal immigration law.
“Tampa is one of the safest cities of our size in the nation because we built trust with our community through collaboration,” Castor said. “The Tampa Police Department signed the 287(g) and developed its immigration enforcement policy in consultation with partner agencies and law enforcement associations to ensure all immigration-related actions are carried out according to state and federal law.”
The Florida Statute guiding the 287(g) program seemingly provides a provision that supports the TPD’s alleged policy. “This section does not authorize a law enforcement agency to detain an alien unlawfully present in the United States pursuant to an immigration detainer solely because the alien witnessed or reported a crime or was a victim of a criminal offense,” it states.
Castor discussed local and national immigration enforcement efforts at a Suncoast Tiger Bay forum with St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector in January. She believes that Americans can agree on deporting people who enter the country illegally and subsequently commit crimes.
However, Castor also noted that “over 70% of the people who have been deported have no criminal record.” The former police chief said those people “want to come to our country for the same reason our ancestors came to this country; in most cases, to make a better life for them and their families.”
“We have got, as a nation, come to an agreement on what is acceptable and what isn’t,” Castor added.
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