The Phoenix City Council has denied a citizen petition aimed at keeping local police from doing immigration enforcement.
Dozens of speakers urged the City Council to approve the resolution.
The acting police chief repeatedly said Phoenix police already do not work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But the federal agency can move to take custody of anyone arrested and booked at a Maricopa County jail. So all local police departments end up working indirectly with ICE.
The Phoenix chief said people aren’t taken to jail for civil traffic tickets. And in cases other than domestic violence, most officers would rather cite someone for a misdemeanor than go through a time-consuming process to formally book them.
More law enforcement news
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In a district with more than 80% nonwhite students, the community is calling for a more rigorous effort to protect schools from potential immigration enforcement activity. -
A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would direct local police to determine the immigration status of people they’ve arrested. If a person is undocumented, local police would be required to notify federal immigration officers. -
Friday is the final day of a social services event for veterans at the state fairgrounds. It includes satellite courtrooms so former military can clear their records of fines, fees and other minor legal issues. -
The expanded order requires services that transfer money abroad to report data about customers who make transactions over $1,000. -
Investigators released their preliminary report on the DPS helicopter that crashed in Flagstaff last month, killing both officers onboard. The report found no evidence of maintenance issues or ballistic damage but found evidence of main rotor strikes to the tail rotor gearbox.
