TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Tucson City Council members are asking officials in the city to look into actions they can take if federal agents come to the city.
The elected Mayor and Council are directing the Tucson City Manager and City Attorney to look into ways they can stop immigration enforcement operations from using city-owned property.
In a Wednesday afternoon meeting, Mayor Regina Romero and the six ward representatives met to discuss a solution for what they say is a concern coming from all of their jurisdictions.
“We’ve got to give our residents the certainty,” said Mayor Regina Romero, “that is they go to the park to walk their dog or take their kids for a picnic or if they’re going to go to a recreation center— either their child or themselves; or even going to one of our buildings, like Tucson Water, to pay their bills, that they will not be confronted or attacked or harassed by any federal agencies.”
Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz introduced the conversation to the group, inspired, Santa Cruz says, by multiple calls and visits to the office from constituents who were concerned about immigration raids.
Other representatives say they had similar experiences and were searching for a way to give answers to Tucson’s residents about what the city can and can’t do.
“The list of things that we can control is much smaller than I would like it to be in this moment and time,” said Ward 3 Council member Nikki Lee. “I think it’s essential that everything that we do have the ability to influence, we do to protect our community and signal to our community that everyone at this table is going to do everything within our power to keep them safe.”
Lee asked the manager and attorney to also look into the county’s policies and protocols surrounding immigration enforcement.
Council members Paul Cunningham and Kevin Dahl said that having Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Tucson makes them feel less safe.
“ICE does not make anyone in America feel safer,” Dahl said. “It is fascism in America.”
Homeland Security— the agency that houses ICE—has repeatedly said that ICE agents “try and make our communities safer,” and rhetoric saying otherwise has put their agents at risk.
KGUN 9 reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a response to Tucson Council’s proposal to “prohibit the use of city-owned or city-controlled property for staging, processing, debriefing, or other civil immigration enforcement operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protections, or any other non-city use without explicit permission except as required by law.”
The Tucson City Attorney and City Manager are scheduled to return to the council with discussion items or possible policy actions in the next month.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
