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

[BumRushDaShow]

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/

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Link to Florida Phoenix article - https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/08/01/under-duress-orange-county-mayor-signs-ice-addendum-to-ward-off-threat-of-removal-from-office/

[msongs]

1. coward more concerned with his job/income than what is right nt

[AverageOldGuy]

2. Or maybe . . .

. . . he realized that DeSantis would simply appoint some nutcases to the jobs and there would be no sane people left to try their best to limit the damage.

[Quanto Magnus]

15. seriously weak excuse

so let DeShameless install some gigantic nutcase.... publicize the crap out of it.

all the weak azz caving is doing is supporting it.

[Attilatheblond]

17. Can DeSantis just replace ELECTED local officials? Is that how Florida works? Or are these 'officials' that cowardly?

What is the matter with people? Going along with illegal bullying? Hope the 'gators get those cowards out of the gene pool.

[Ohioboy]

3. "Under Duress" is the perfect way to describe America these days

[Old Crank]

4. Should have said no.

Meaningless posturing.
Make the government do the firing.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Liars and cowards. They didn't have to sign it.

They saved their own cushy jobs.

[Wonder Why]

6. When saving one's job is more important than saving one's fellow humans, one's county, one's state,

one's country, one's morals, one's self respect and one's ethics.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Doesn't signing a contract "under protest and extreme duress" create an opening to challenge it in court?

Thanks for the thread BumRushDaShow

[mdbl]

8. So a governor has the power to remove a mayor at will?

Or is that just in Fla?

[Hekate]

10. Remember Flint, Michigan? There's a state government mechanism to remove elected officials...

…that they deem incompetent. Way too easy to abuse.

IIRC, Flint locals and the people they elected in no way asked for or endorsed the changes to their water system that resulted in the lead poisoning of their people, especially the brain damage to more than a generation of children. But somebody made money off the deal.

In any case, it’s not just Florida.

[mdbl]

18. Thanks for the info.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. "So a governor has the power to remove a mayor at will?"

Authority to remove Detroit mayor shifts to Michigan governor (Tue 19 Aug 2008 11.04 EDT)

[allegorical oracle]

9. If the state AG can fire local politicians, then why bother having elections?

The AG can just find some legalese excuse related to failing to cooperate with the feds and bend it around to sound like the state Constitution gives DeSantis that power.

A right-wing, longtime school chum who lives in Orlando called me yesterday about this. She's blistered -- and she voted for DeSantis last time; she and her husband voted, thank goodness, against djt

[eggplant]

12. Coward.

[flashman13]

13. WTF do you mean you had no choice? Just say NO!

You sir are a coward. You should tell DeSatan to go pound sand. Then tell him you will see him in court.

[EarthFirst]

14. They chose to look away... nt

[Katinfl]

16. FWIW he is Val Deming's husband.