Mesa’s partnership with ICE criticized at council meeting

By Connor Van Ligten
Mail

Mesa’s agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement came under fire during the Aug. 18 city council meeting.

The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act section 287(g), which Mesa participates in, partners state and local law enforcement with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws. If someone is arrested and is in the country illegally, Mesa Police will report them to ICE.

Jillian Ryan, organizer of Indivisible Mesa, a city-wide progressive advocacy organization, criticized the agreement during the items from residents present section of the meeting. She said the agreement is voluntary in nature, and said that increased ICE presence only increases racial profiling and does not address violent crime in the city.

“We know that state and local jurisdictions have a choice to enter into these agreements. Joining the program is voluntary and it comes at a local taxpayer’s expense,” Ryan said. “Reports have found that the presence of these agreements create environments of discrimination and racial profiling, specifically of Latino residents. Immigration arrest quotas have increased and as a result this will increase racial profiling and distract from dealing with real violent crime in the city.”

Tempe resident Amanda Schneider spoke at the meeting and said she visits Mesa a lot due to her parents being residents there. She feels that Mesa is no longer safe for her or her friends or neighbors.

Schneider also claimed people are less likely to report crimes to the police out of fear of ICE involvement, meaning that more crimes will go unreported and unpunished.

“Mesa Police Department’s duty is to protect and serve all residents. But cooperation with ICE undermines that promise. Families now lump all law enforcement together and calls to Mesa PD have already dropped,” Schneider said. “When victims are too afraid to call the police because they fear ICE, we are all less safe. And let’s be clear, most of these people ICE is targeting are not criminals.”

Although council members were not allowed to respond during the public comments section of the Aug. 18 meeting as per council meeting protocol, City Manager Scott Butler provided an explanation in response.

Butler said the current Trump administration has no bearing on how the agreement, which has been in effect since 2009, is enforced.

“This was entered into in 2009 under President Barack Obama,” Butler said. “We have been involved in this program through two Democratic administrations and now a Republican administration, both Trump 1 and Trump 2. During that time though, the actions of our detention officers who were involved in this have remained unchanged.”