Residents call for limits on ICE activity during Phoenix community meeting | 12news.com

PHOENIX — Dozens of residents gathered at a community meeting on Wednesday to share concerns with Phoenix city leaders about immigration enforcement activity in the Valley and discuss potential actions officials could take to help people feel safe.

The meeting came amid recent immigration enforcement activity, including Homeland Security Investigations raids at Zipps Sports Grill and a proposed ICE detention center in Surprise.

Those in attendance spoke about fear in their communities.

“People in our communities are afraid going taking their kids to school and not making it back," said one resident.

Phoenix City Council members and representatives hosted the meeting to discuss what leaders can do to address those concerns.

The discussion comes after the Phoenix City Council approved what’s called a Community Transparency Initiative, or CTI.

The initiative focuses on six areas, including documenting agents violating civil rights or criminal statutes, preventing ICE from staging at city parks and property, and collecting data on how city services are being impacted by federal immigration enforcement.

Many attendees supported those ideas, though some said the steps should have been taken sooner.

“Everything in the CTI is something we raised the alarm over the last year," one resident said.

Others called on the council to take additional action. This includes taking $2 million out of the City's budget and using it to establish a deportation defense fund for people going through the legal process, and a moratorium to prevent future ICE detention centers from being created in Phoenix.

For the detention center in the West Valley, the city of Surprise said that because the project is federal, it does not have to comply with local regulations, such as zoning, allowing ICE to move forward with its plans.

Phoenix Vice Mayor Kesha Hodge Washington said after the meeting that the city is exploring options to help people feel safe.

“This is a palatable fear that they're actually feeling, and I think it's important for us to address those, to say what we can do and what we can't do. I think also over-promising could be problematic,” Hodge Washington said. “So it's about balancing out those and doing it in a way that protects our community.”

More meetings are expected to happen over the next few weeks, with the city planning to present its plan at the end of the month.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment at the time of this story.

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What is the Valley?

“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.

The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:

Mesa

Chandler

Scottsdale

Tempe

Glendale

Surprise

Peoria

Gilbert

El Mirage

Avondale

Litchfield Park

Goodyear

Buckeye

Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.

The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.

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