The Pima County Board of Supervisors has voted to advance a trio of actions to limit how ICE functions within the county.
Supervisor Jenn Allen, who brought the item to the board, said her experience with local law enforcement has been positive.
“Trust, transparency, accountability and integrity are things they strive for every single day,” she said. “This item is getting at behaviors that are far outside of that.”
Allen argues without proper identification, ICE agents cannot be held accountable for potential abuses of power or use-of-force.
Supervisors voted 4-1 to draft a mask policy, another prohibiting ICE from using county-owned property, and a resolution against an ICE detention center proposed for an old jail in the town of Marana, just north of Tucson.
Rolande Baker is a volunteer with a local group called Pima Resist ICE. She was one of more than 20 community members who showed up to address the board during their meeting Tuesday.
“I don’t think it should be difficult. Prior to Donald Trump’s second term, they always were unmasked, ICE was always unmasked. Border Patrol was always unmasked. Border Patrol and ICE always had their IDs on them, we knew who they were,” she said. “The fact that we’re even having to write an ordinance, that we’re even having to write something to say that they have to do that, is outrageous to me, because it’s what it always was, prior to January 2021.”
Supervisor Steve Christy, the lone no vote, argued the ordinance could lead to doxing of federal agents. He proposed a substitute motion that would still require law enforcement to wear IDs, but would also prohibit members of the public from releasing their private information. His motion was not picked up, though Supervisor Rex Scott said no one “deserves to have people showing up at their home, threatening their families and endangering their children,” because of their public role.
Christy also voted against the ordinance barring ICE from using county-owned property, arguing ICE enforcement was a volatile issue that could lead local law enforcement to “physically battle with ICE” — to which Supervisor Matt Heinz said local officers are well-trained in de-escalation tactics.
Supervisors asked county officials to draft the ordinances in time for their next meeting later this month, and both will be voted on in March. Last month, Tucson’s mayor and city council voted to draft a similar ordinance that would bar ICE from using city-owned property.
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