Maureen Miller laid it out to the Surprise City Council what not stopping a controversial ICE detention center would mean for the city’s future.
“Despite the good that we have in Surprise, this facility will be a stain on our city,” the Surprise resident told the council on Tuesday as one of several dozen speakers who voiced their opposition to the planned facility at 13290 W. Sweetwater Ave. “Common decency and humanity are gone. You are complicit in this, and we, by association, will also be complicit if this goes through.”
The city council gathered for the first time since traveling to Washington, D.C., in March to meet with Department of Homeland Security officials about the fed’s plans to open a 1,500-bed detention center for undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes outside of their immigration status.
“If we don’t find a way to stop this now, we’re saddled with this thing forever,” Surprise City Councilmember Chris Judd told the rest of the council while hundreds of protesters sang and chanted outside City Hall.
While in Washington, the city met with most of our Arizona’s congressional delegation — both senators, four Congressmen, one Congresswoman and the staff from three others — to get answers from federal officials about the facility it did not even know was coming when the federal government bought the vacant 418,000-square-foot warehouse in December.
“They can have a meeting with us and say all these great, wonderful things that if they were to come true would be amazing,” Judd said. “But they could also be shining us on to get us to shut the heck up so they can get far enough along, so we no longer have the ability to stop this.”
Only Judd and Councilmember Johnny V. Melton viewed their opinions at the April 7 council meeting.
Judd said his main problem is none of the promises DHS gave the city were put in writing.
Surprise Government Relations Director Jodi Tas, who acts as a liaison for the city on legislative issues at local, county, state, and federal levels, said the city still needs for an intergovernmental agreement or another legally binding agreement for the promises the federal officials made in the meeting.
She said the sides are working on an IGA, and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Surprise) is attempting to secure some other promises in writing.
ICE on the streets?
One major concern of Surprise residents has been the fear ICE agents will roam the streets of the city to find detainees, often picking up legally documented immigrants or U.S. citizens by mistake.
Melton, who serves the heavily Hispanic Original Town Site, told federal officials at the meeting he was not trying to be hostile, but he wanted them to know he had some lines in the sand.
“I can’t have ICE agents in the (Surprise) Senior Center. I can’t have ICE agents in the Dysart Community Center. I can’t have them in our schools,” Melton said he told them.
Tas said DHS told the city it will not conduct unwarranted roving patrols in surprise and surrounding areas. Instead, ICE claimed its activities will be limited to targeted, intelligence-based operations.
A community relations board, made up of representation from Surprise, will be initiated to provide oversight and coordination of the program. That community relations board could meet quarterly once the facility is operational.
While DHS claims agents will not be roaming the streets, officials acknowledged to the city it should expect an increase in calls to Surprise public safety departments based on a national analysis. Tas said, the city can anticipate 10 additional calls to those departments for every 1,000 detainees
What is coming
Tas said the Surprise facility will likely open in the fall, when it will begin its use as a short-term processing site as a “later step” in the enforcement process
The facility will act as a processing center for 500 to 1,500 single adults, but DHS officials told the city it plans to use 542 beds, while processing 250 detainees per week.
Federal officials told the city the average length of stay will be three to seven days before the transfer to a 10,000-bed megasite in El Paso, Texas and Salt Lake City for the remaining duration of their removal proceedings.
Tas said the Surprise detention center will include the following: perimeter fencing and secure sallyports, lobbying and waiting areas, intake and screening areas, detention housing and dormitory areas, mailroom, storage and laundry, indoor and outdoor recreation zones, private meeting rooms for visitations, overflow space for interagency use and clinical and medical stations fully staffed with secure areas for pharmaceuticals.
The facility, which DHS quietly purchased late last year for $70 million, is funded through federal fiscal year 2029. It is one of nearly three dozen processing sites the federal government plans to open up as an overhaul.
GARDAWORLD has been picked as the contractor for operations and maintenance of the facility, but ICE agents will be on site at all times.
Federal Protective Services will be the primary responding authority for perimeter security.
Contracted security will be responsible for security inside the facility.
Reasons to say no
Judd listed a few reasons why he has concerns about the detention center, including its closeness to Luke Air Force Base, the high amount of water it will need and what the facility will be once another presidential administration closes or transforms it.
Luke, which brings an economic impact of $3 billion to $4 billion to the region, fended off calls for its closure because of encroachment in the late 1990s.
Judd said more than 20% of its airmen live in Surprise. He wants the council to do “whatever it takes” to protect the air force base’s existence.
“I’m not interested in any sort of toothless declarations,” Judd said. “I want something that has a real chance of having success, and I want to protect the mission at Luke.”
The facility’s high water usage is another issue concerning some on the council and opponents of the facility.
City Manager Andrea Davis said the city was told the facility could use up to 269,000 gallons per day at full buildout. That’s more than three times the amount of Surprise’s current highest water user.
The high-use questions comes just months after Surprise tried to protect its future by passing a high-water-user ordinance for those who use 100,000 gallons per day or more.
Judd also raised questions on what would happen to the facility in a few years when an presidential administration changes.
“Something different is likely to happen in that facility,” Judd said. “They’re not just going to walk away from it.”
Outside opposition
Rep. Analise Ortiz brought with her a letter signed from 38 state legislators, stating they did not want to compromise with DHS on opening the facility.
“The only acceptable option is to stop it from opening at all costs,” Ortiz told the council after delivering the letter.
Ortiz said Surprise should stop the facility with legal action and pointed to examples such as Kansas City, Missouri, as places that successfully stopped ICE’s presence in their city.
“We really want to emphasize that this is about human beings, friends, family and neighbors, who will be traumatized, hurt and killed,” Ortiz said. “People from all over the state are watching, History is watching.”
Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@iniusa.org. Submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Meet Jason Jason Stone joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2019, after a distinguished three decade media career that included stops at the Arizona Republic, iHeart Media/Clear Channel and Beckett Sports Card magazine. He remembers when airports sold newspapers.
Community: He is a big supporter of the Valley's original sports team: The Phoenix Suns.
Education: Northern Arizona University with a BS in broadcast journalism and a minor in sports coaching.
Random Fact: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.
Hobbies: Surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry.
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