Florida AG sends criminal subpoena to Deegan administration, targets employee put on leave after posting ICE video

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Monday announced that he sent a “criminal subpoena” to the administration of Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, saying one of the city’s employees may have impeded immigration enforcement.

“If there’s evidence that her administration coordinated to impede immigration enforcement and harbor criminal aliens, we will hold them accountable!” Uthmeier wrote on “X”.

Uthmeier referred to a Jacksonville employee who posted a video talking about reports of increased presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the area last month.

Deegan placed Yanira “Yaya” Cardona, the city’s Hispanic Outreach Coordinator, on a brief administrative leave for violating city policy, but also said “nothing she said was illegal.”

MORE | Deegan says employee was placed on leave for policy violation, not for discussing reported increased ICE presence

Uthmeier was in Green Cove Springs on Monday for an announcement related to a “sextortion” case and was asked about the announcement.

“We have a situation here where a city official was out there, you know, publicly alerting people to ICE locations, interfering with immigration enforcement efforts. This is the State of Florida. It’s not Minnesota,” Uthmeier said during the news conference. “There’s an obligation to use best efforts to facilitate, help the federal government carry out their law enforcement efforts. We’re a rule of law State. We believe in that; we stand by that, and if there’s evidence that, you know, the city as a whole -- I know, the mayor said nothing wrong happened here, we disagree with that.”

Uthmeier said his office is looking to see if there was a coordinated effort by Cardona to work with other city employees or outside NGOs to try to thwart ICE’s efforts to enforce the law. If he finds that was the case, he said his office will hold the “wrongdoers accountable.”

According to the subpoena issued Friday and obtained by News4JAX, the attorney general is trying to get emails, text messages and documents from Cardona, specifically those stories on city-issued cell phones, or personal devices she used to do work.

A specific request asks for all emails, calls, or texts containing the words “Nazi,” “Gestapo,” “stormtrooper,” or “terrorize.”

The attorney general is also looking for any mention of Jennifer Cruz in Cardona’s communications. Cruz stands accused of punching a FHP trooper and kicking an ICE officer during an incident on Beach Blvd.

The mayor’s office issued a statement following the subpoena, saying it plans to fully cooperate.

“Instead of addressing the pocketbook concerns of Floridians – including property insurance, housing costs, and healthcare – the Attorney General is once again on a hyper-partisan fishing expedition as we enter election season," the mayor’s office said in a statement. “We are confident that a review of the facts will show the administration acted lawfully, as we always do.”

On Jan. 15, Deegan addressed the political blowback after both Uthmeier and Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly criticized Cardona.

Deegan, a Democrat, said the content of Cardona’s video was well within bounds, and that she was “simply giving information” that “came from a place of compassion.”

She went on to say that she values Jacksonville’s immigrant community and, if she asks citizens to comply with the city’s partnership with ICE, she expects ICE agents to follow the law as well.

Jacksonville Councilman Rory Diamond, a Republican, applauded the move by Uthmeier, posting “thank you” on social media.

“Donna Deegan keeps trying to make Jax a sanctuary city. We won’t let it happen,” Diamond wrote.

DeSantis also acknowledged the move.

The mayor’s office noted that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office maintains the sole responsibility for coordination and interaction with state and federal immigration agencies. The mayor’s office said the mayor does not hold any authority over those activities under our consolidated government.