ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s Attorney General is warning Orange County leaders: sign the amended ICE agreement and transport detainees, or else.

“The commission should always prioritize the safety of its residents over the misguided views of left-wing activists,” wrote Attorney General James Uthmeier in a letter he sent to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and commissioners.

Uthmeier also posted the letter to X.com on Tuesday.

Uthmeier is talking about the county’s decision to reject an addendum to the 287(g) ICE agreement commissioners signed earlier this year. That addendum would require the county to transport detainees to ICE facilities, including Alligator Alcatraz in South Florida.

“By rejecting this addendum presented by ICE and Florida Sheriffs, you adopted a sanctuary policy and failed to exercise best efforts in support of the enforcement of federal immigration law,” Uthmeier wrote.

Uthmeier then tells Demings and the commissioners that the county must immediately approve the addendum. The attorney general threatened civil and criminal penalties if they didn’t, including removal from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

News 6 has reached out to the county and received the following statement:

“Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings and the Board of County Commissioners will discuss the ICE addendum at their next meeting on August 5, 2025.“

Orange County Government

The agreement was approved despite protests from the immigrant community and some commissioners, who questioned the morality of the agreement.

“We are continuing to be complacent in something that not only historically is going to be shown immoral, and I believe cruel and indefensible,” Commissioner Nicole Wilson said at a recent meeting.

From January through early May, the county says 438 people were booked into the Orange County Jail on ICE detainers, without any state charges.

[WATCH: Immigration advocates call on Orange County to rescind ICE detention agreement]

Since the federal government began its campaign to detain and deport illegal immigrants, News 6 has documented several cases where immigration attorneys and advocates say people should not have been detained, or where detained unfairly.

They include a Venezuelan man in Orange County who was detained last month while at a hearing. He had lost his temporary protected status under a policy change by the Trump administration.

They also include a DACA recipient who was transported to Alligator Alcatraz after a case involving a suspended license was resolved.

News 6 has also documented instances where ICE officials have arrested illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes, including the arrest of alleged MS-13 gang members, and a driver arrested for DUI back in January.

[WATCH: Florida governor says flights have begun out of Alligator Alcatraz]

Uthmeier says those cases demonstrate that “illegal aliens” pose a danger to the county.

 “The county’s outright rejection of an addendum to its existing 287(g) WSO Agreement — an addendum ICE requested because it would enhance local assistance in the enforcement of federal immigration law — constitutes a failure to use ‘best efforts’ to assist with federal immigration enforcement,” Uthmeier wrote.

Meanwhile, lawsuits against the federal immigration crackdown continue around the country, including in Florida, where civil rights lawyers are seeking a temporary restraining order against Alligator Alcatraz.

The attorneys say detainees have been denied due process — barred from meeting attorneys, and being held without charges.

In responding to the complaint, Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States, and yet all they do is complain.”