A petition was filed to disincorporate the city of Surprise ahead of a City Council meeting. This comes after plans to build an immigration detention center near a chemical storage facility were made public.
Activist Jeremy Helfgot submitted the petition and says the issue is a lack of communication from city leaders.
“I would much rather see the elected leaders of Surprise stand up and do something, even take a meeting with community members so we can talk about the situation,” Helfgot said.
Helfgot says the location poses a health risk to future detainees and local residents. The initiative would require 70,000 signatures to change ownership to Maricopa County.
“Mayor Kevin Sartor and the members of his City Council have refused every public inquiry regarding safety and hazards in connection with this facility and its location,” Helfgot said.
Helfgot says Surprise should follow the lead of other cities around the country in pushing back against DHS’s purchases. The city has not responded to the petition.
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Surprise residents who were angry about the federal government turning a local warehouse into an immigration detention center can take a sigh of relief this week. -
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is asking a judge to pause its lawsuit challenging a planned ICE detention center in Surprise after the Trump administration agreed to stop development until it can look at the facility’s environmental impact. -
The St. Mary’s Food Bank says it will close its Phoenix and Surprise facilities Wednesday through Friday this week. -
As Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republican lawmakers negotiate the next state budget, dozens of local officials throughout the state are calling on them to include a new tax incentive to boost affordable housing in rural communities. -
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors gave the greenlight to a 160-acre data center and powerplant development in the west Valley despite local concerns about pollution and the project’s proximity to Luke Air Force Base.
