The proposed Arizona ICE Act is arousing weeks of protests outside the Arizona Legislature.
SB 1164, sponsored by Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa), would establish the Arizona Immigration, Cooperation, and Enforcement Act, which authorizes state and local enforcement of federal immigration laws in cooperation with federal authorities. It passed out of the Senate Military Affairs and Border Security Committee on Monday 4-3 along party lines.
Petersen, who is not part of the committee, said the bill also prevents local governments from banning the cooperation, noting that this type of stonewalling is occurring in other states. He said three county sheriffs have already entered 287(g) agreements with ICE. They are Pinal, Yavapai, and Coconino counties. He said Maricopa County already operates with a similar agreement.
State Senator Catherine Miranda (R-Phoenix) told Petersen that the law would result in racial profiling, comparing it to Arizona’s SB 1070, a 2010 bill that cracked down on illegal immigration but ended up partially overturned in the courts. Petersen responded by saying that SB 1164 mainly addresses detainers. He explained that their identity would be determined only after someone has committed a crime. He said illegal immigrants are coming into the country from over a hundred countries.
State Senator Sally Ann Gonzalez (D-Tucson) asked if it would only affect those who had committed crimes, not illegal immigrants who are merely workers or students. Petersen said that was correct; the bill primarily addresses illegal immigrants arrested for state crimes who have detainers placed on them. Since the bill was amended to eliminate mention of 287(g) agreements, Petersen said it was no longer as broad.
Gonzalez asked about Native Americans who were recently arrested on a reservation who did not have ID. Petersen said that was a different situation and that the arrests were done under existing state law.
Gonzales claimed that on February 3, when there was a protest against the bill outside the State Capitol, she was racially profiled while inside the State Capitol museum since security stopped her. She didn’t explain how that had anything to do with the bill, since it hadn’t been enacted yet, or explain how it wasn’t just routine security due to the heightened protests. She launched into a tirade about how she fears law enforcement will engage in racial profiling.
Petersen responded, “What is before us here is the question of whether will we always worry about we want the law to always be the law to always be applied correctly and fairly, and we want everything to be perfect, and we don’t want there ever to be mistakes. But if you go down this other road of well, this will happen, and therefore you can’t and you must not, well, then that’s the same track of logic that is like saying, ‘Get rid of all police, get rid of all laws.’”
Tanisha Hartwell-Parris, who identified herself as the wife of detained veteran Marlon Parris, told the committee that her husband was detained a month ago and is being held in Florence. However, she did not explain how that was relevant to SB 1164 since it hadn’t gone into effect yet. The veteran, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, served five years in prison after he left the service.
Her attorney, Douglas Kouffie, said he contacted Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) a week ago but hasn’t received a response. Gallego frequently touts his military service in the U.S. Marines. State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), who served as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, told the pair that getting help from his office is the best approach.
Tyler Montague, a senior policy advisor for the American Business Immigration Coalition, told the committee that he opposed the bill, but admitted the organization does not “oppose removing dangerous criminals from the community.” He said the bill would hurt the business community, stating that “undocumented immigrants pay $59 billion per year in taxes across the country.” However, according to a report provided to Congress last year by the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrants “receive more in government services than they pay in taxes.”
Senator Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) spoke in favor of the bill. “My seatmate and I ran the border bills, and then we worked to get it on the ballot. Heard a lot of the same fear mongering and rhetoric, and with all due respect, this is about making Arizona safer. And the fact of the matter is, the citizens of Arizona overwhelmingly voted to secure our border, our federal government is not going to do it, then we have to do something.”
Shamp brought up Laken Riley, the nursing student who was raped and murdered in Georgia by an illegal immigrant who had committed crimes. She said if there had been local law enforcement cooperation with ICE, “he wouldn’t have been out and able to kill her.”
The State Senate banned the protesters from the building “based on aggressive behavior displayed by protesters, including but not limited to, protesters using force at the front doors of the Senate to enter the premises, instead of heeding instructions from law enforcement on safe and orderly entry,” said Senate spokeswoman Kim Quintero in a statement.
Rogers posted a video of the protesters swarming the building. “Protesters tried to break into our Arizona Senate,” she said. “Security doing great job.”
Protesters tried to break into our Arizona Senate.
Security doing great job. pic.twitter.com/UXhzhpBE5t— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) February 17, 2025
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Protesters” by Wendy Rogers.
