James Uthmeier
TALLAHASSEE – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is spearheading a U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit against the State of California and Gov. Gavin Newsom over California’s sanctuary policies regarding immigration.
Uthmeier announced the lawsuit October 16 on Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News, and it focuses on California’s policy of issues commercial driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The case centers on an August crash in Saint Lucie County on the Florida Turnpike. Investigators said truck driver Harjinder Singh, who is from India, didn’t speak English well and should not have been issued a commercial driver's license due to his English proficiency and immigration status. Singh, who received his commercial driver’s license in California, made an illegal U-turn, and three people died in the resulting wreck.
Newsom
“They are culpable,” Uthmeier said of California and Newsom. “They care more about their love affair with illegals than protecting American citizens ... American victims that suffer every day every day from the harms the open border has caused for the rest of the country. …
“Their so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies for illegal aliens are harming states like Florida. California must pay for the carnage of their open border policies and unlawful CDL programs.”
In the complaint, Uthmeier seeks to stop California's sanctuary policies, which he argues are creating a public safety risk. He also claims these policies are a violation of federal law, and he says the policies help undocumented immigrants evade federal immigration laws.
The U.S. Department of Transportation also recently announced it would withhold $40 million in federal funds from California for failing to enforce rules that require truckers to speak and understand English.
“It’s a shame, and that’s why we’re taking Gavin Newsom to the Supreme Court … to hold them accountable for the carnage that their sanctuary illegal immigration policies have caused to states like Florida across the company,” Uthmeier told Hannity. “Here in Florida, we can do everything right. We can back the blue, we can enforce the law, we can combat illegal immigration.
“But we still suffer when Gavin Newsom and liberals on the West Coast allow these illegals in. They encourage them, enable them to get these driver’s licenses. And then they cross the country and ultimately take lives. Drug cartels cross the country, and they take lives. So, they need to pay for it. We’re going to hold them accountable. …
“And that’s why we’re bringing this lawsuit. We’ve seen across the country these days … you know, soft on crime policies, they don’t work. Brutal stabbings where people have been released 14 prior times. In Florida, that doesn’t fly. We’re tough on crime. We hold people accountable. We enforce the laws. We want people behind bars for as long as possible.”
Uthmeier said Newsom and California officials are “knowingly aware of the dangers that their policies cause.”
“They know that by giving people these truckers’ licenses who don’t speak English, they’re putting families on the road in jeopardy,” Uthmeier said. “Lives are lost. They know about it. They need to be held responsible.”
