Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier argued that enforcing policy and legislation is “not the role” of the judicial branch, vowing that the state will continue to detain and deport illegal immigrants.

Uthmeier has been held in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams over a letter he sent to local law enforcement stating he could not stop officers from disobeying an order from Williams. The judge placed a temporary pause on a law from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that made it a misdemeanor for illegal immigrants to enter the state.

“She wanted me to direct all of our state law enforcement to stand down on enforcing Florida’s new state immigration law, and I was not going to do that,” Uthemier told Fox News’s America Reports. “No law enforcement agency was even a party before that court. She did not have jurisdiction. I didn’t have the authority to do that. So, I think she’s overstepped her bounds, but if being held in contempt is the price to pay for standing on principle and standing on the law, then so be it.”