Protesters took to the streets in Phoenix over the long holiday weekend to push back against the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the valley.
Many of them gathered outside a Home Depot where two undocumented immigrants were arrested by ICE agents earlier this month.
“Day laborers are the face of immigration. They think they’re the most vulnerable, but they’re also the toughest because they’ve been here fighting for the survival of their families for a long time,” Salvador Reza, a longtime immigrant rights activist, told the crowd outside the store on Jan. 17.
“I think Jan. 4 was the first time (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) came (to Home Depot), and now they’re doing it like every week, every two weeks,” said Reza. “But they come in with the purpose of intimidating and scaring. Because they always say they’re coming after one person. However, they take anybody else that they see around. That person is the excuse.”
At the time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told a local newspaper that it carried out a “targeted” operation near the home improvement retailer resulting in the arrest of two migrants.
The statement justified the arrest by pointing to their records. One, the statement said, was a Mexican national who committed “a felony by illegally reentering the United States after being deported at least four separate times,” and the other did not have a valid status to remain in the U.S. Both men are in ICE custody.
This arrest occurred at the same time as the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota. U.S. ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who sustained an injury after allegedly being hit by Good’s car, was acting in self-defense, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The shooting sparked protests nationwide including in Salt Lake City.
On Tuesday, the one-year mark since President Donald Trump’s inauguration to office, the president told reporters he “felt horribly” when he heard about the tragedy surrounding Good, who was shot three times.
“It’s a tragedy. It’s a horrible thing. Everybody would say — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would say the same thing,” Trump said before noting that Good’s father supported him.
He previously described Good as a “professional agitator.” Meanwhile, his administration labeled her actions as “domestic terrorism.”
Democrats and Republicans take opposing sides.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said on Jan. 9 that ICE won’t be “afraid to racially profile” Latinos.
More recently, Gallego, in a television interview, said that he thinks the federal law enforcement agency conducting arrests should be dismantled.
“It has to be, you know, created in the image of what people want,” Gallego said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Jan. 18.
“From my experience running in Arizona, a very hard, hard state when it comes to immigration and immigration issues,” Gallego said, “people want immigration enforcement that goes after criminals and immigration enforcement that is actually focused on security, not the goon squad that has come from (White House Homeland Security adviser) Stephen Miller and Donald Trump.”
As Gallego, who is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that has oversight of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Latinos to exercise caution, Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan assured Phoenix residents he would take action against ICE agents should anything unlawful occur in the Phoenix metro area.
“If they’re doing something that is illegal (or) unlawful, the sheriff will be there,” he told KTAR News last week.
The sheriff noted he had put deputies behind bars and fired his nephew before pressing criminal charges against him.
“So I’m not afraid to do that,” Sheridan said. “We have people in law enforcement who shouldn’t be there and when they step over the line.”
Sheridan later took to social media and clarified that he would also arrest anyone who interferes with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ operations.
“When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is here doing their job, their responsibility, I will be here to protect them and keep people from interfering with them,” Sheridan said and warned protesters to keep the picketing contained.
“Now, this is a very emotional issue,” the sheriff said. “This country was founded on immigration; we have Indigenous people here and look what happened to them.”
Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican congressman who is running for Arizona governor, in a statement, said he “fully (supported) Sheridan and his entire team, who put their lives on the line every day to keep Maricopa County safe from violent criminals.”
“I know he’ll always do the right thing when it comes to upholding the safety of our community and law enforcement officials while respecting the right to peaceful protest,” said Biggs, R-Ariz.
Arizona residents know the drill.
As the Bulwark reported on Jan. 2, ICE planned to intensify its operations in Phoenix after similar plans were carried out in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte.
The report noted that ICE’S efforts mirrored the controversial practices of former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, who served in office for 24 years. His time in office was marked by tough-on-immigration policies that gained national attention, like his initiative of creating “tent city” jails and implementing chain gangs, where inmates are shackled together while carrying out tasks like cleaning roads and streets.
He also defied court orders to stop racial profiling in 2017 but was subsequently pardoned by Trump.
Now, more than 10 years later, community members and advocates are again voicing strong opposition to the resurgence of similar enforcement strategies.
ICE plans to use soft-sided detention facilities, temporary tentlike structures with steel frames, according to reports.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren issued a statement on a member of the Navajo Nation detained by ICE agents in Phoenix.
The man had directed the federal agents to documents — a Certificate of Indian Blood and a birth certificate — as proof of his identity but was still arrested.
“My administration has been in communication with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” Nygren said. He is also in touch with Arizona’s congressional delegation.
The Maricopa County Sheriff reminded locals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a law enforcement agency.
“I am here to protect the peace and tranquility of this county and I will do so,” Sheridan added.
Like Sheridan, Gov. Katie Hobbs understands her limits. After the death of Good in Minneapolis, she told KTAR News that her powers as governor are limited.
“Any elected official who tells you ‘I can keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of Arizona,’ they’re not telling the truth,” Hobbs said. “We can’t. They’re federal agents. They can come in here. We have to be prepared.”
“We are working with our law enforcement agencies to be prepared and ensure that people are safe, law enforcement is safe, people showing up to express their displeasure are safe and that we maintain orderliness in our communities,” Hobbs said.