As part of the criminal investigation, state prosecutors are requesting all forms of communication from a suspended-then-reinstated employee in Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s office from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16, vowing that there will be accountability if evidence of unlawful activity is found.
Yanira Cardona, a Hispanic outreach coordinator for Deegan, was suspended in January after posting a video giving warnings and advice to Jacksonville residents about ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations within the city.
“This video is for my immigrants here in Jacksonville,” the employee said in a livestream on Jan. 14. “They are targeting any lawn care companies, any AC companies, construction vans.”
However, Deegan said in a news conference on Jan. 15 that the suspension had “absolutely nothing to do with the content of what came out of her mouth.”
The mayor’s office said in a statement provided to media outlets that Cardona has since resumed her role as Hispanic outreach coordinator.
Deegan said Cardona’s suspension was due to social media use policies, which the employee has struggled to adhere to, and that no wrongdoing occurred.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Feb. 9 that he and his office disagree with that statement.
“This is the State of Florida. It’s not Minnesota,” Uthmeier said at a news conference that morning.
Neither Deegan nor her office immediately responded to a request for comment.
All emails, text messages, app-based communications—Facebook, Instagram, X, Signal, Bluesky, TikTok, WhatsApp, and similar platforms—from government-issued devices, or personal devices for business used within the given dates of Jan. 2–Jan. 16 by the city official suspected of impeding federal law enforcement have been ordered to be turned over.
“If there’s a coordinated effort for this city official to work with other city employees or outside NGOs to try to thwart our efforts to enforce the law, then we will hold these wrongdoers accountable,” the attorney general said.
State prosecutors are especially interested in all of Cardona’s emails, texts, app-based messages, and call logs, whether in English or Spanish, relating to slideshows, mentions of federal or state law enforcement agencies, and methods for how a person could avoid or conceal their whereabouts from those agencies.
The state also requested all documentation related to Cardona’s suspension.
Additionally, the criminal subpoena is demanding any evidence containing the words “Nazi, Gestapo, stormtrooper, terrorize, Jennifer Cruz, and Gamble Scott.”
Jennifer Cruz is accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during an ICE operation in Jacksonville on Jan. 13. Uthmeier addressed her arrest in a Facebook post last month, claiming that she punched a trooper in the face. Cruz has since pleaded not guilty to her charges in federal court.
It’s unclear what or who “Gamble Scott” refers to, and the Florida attorney general’s office told The Epoch Times that it would not provide any further details on this active investigation into the Jacksonville mayor’s administration.
The Florida attorney general said his office is looking at potential RICO and other federal charges. Foremost, though, Uthmeier said the city employee or the mayor’s office could be in violation of a Sunshine State law passed in February 2025.
State and local officials do not have discretion as to when and where to assist federal officials, the attorney general said. They have an obligation to use “best efforts” to support the federal government in carrying out immigration enforcement.
The law covers all state and local governmental entities, law enforcement agencies, employees, agents, and representatives of an entity or agency. Any individual with an immigration detainer that is in state officials’ custody must be transferred to federal custody.
“We’re a rule of law state. We believe in that. We stand by that,” Uthmeier said. “We don’t have issues in Florida. We don’t have the chaos. We don’t have the anarchy. We don’t have the mayhem in the streets. We work together with federal law enforcement. It goes pretty dang well.”
