Local officials and lawmakers are responding to an arrest this week in Tucson — where a 45-year-old Mexican woman was detained by masked ICE agents while leaving a Pima County courthouse.
The woman has lived in the U.S. since she was 4, according to reporting from the Arizona Daily Star, and is the mother of three U.S. citizens. She was detained by ICE agents near the county courthouse after attending a hearing for noise-ordinance violation. Her children told the Star they don’t know how ICE knew their mother would be there.
Pima County Supervisor Jenn Allen says a county resolution requires county employees to ask ICE agents who enter county sites for a judicial warrant, and to contact the County Attorney’s Office to verify its authenticity. It also bars ICE from staging enforcement on county-owned property.
“We have been looking around to see whether or not the person was on county property. We have a policy around people, all people being able to safely utilize county services, county facilities,” Allen said.
But, Allen says, because of where the arrest occurred, that policy wasn’t triggered.
“Given that our understanding that it was not on county property and not in the building, it hasn’t really tapped the resolution that outlines what county employees are supposed to do,” she said.
An ICE spokesperson confirmed agents arrested a woman named Alma Guadalupe Nunez-Quijada at cross streets near the Pima County Consolidated Court Justice Court on Tuesday but says they did not surveil the site, and the arrest did not occur on county property.
The spokesperson said the Nunez-Quijada has a criminal history that includes a domestic violence assault conviction from 2006, though KJZZ could not verify that charge or conviction.
Pima County court records show Nunez-Quijada faced minor traffic charges in 2004, including for failing to wear a seat belt and driving without a valid license, along with another charge for failing to pay a fine in 2017 and most recently, the noise-ordinance violation she went to court for this week.
In a statement, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva said ICE tactics — like courthouse arrests — erode public trust and safety and urged Congress to pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would limit ICE enforcement at courthouses, hospitals and other sensitive sites.
“When people fear they may be detained for showing up to court, seeking medical care, or taking their children to school, everyone is less safe," Grijalva said.
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