Last month, Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor held a meeting with federal officials about a planned ICE facility in the city — a step he described as “progress” in addressing community concerns.
Still, Sartor conceded at a news conference weeks later: “I acknowledge that for some, the outcome of this meeting will not be satisfactory.”
He was right.
During a packed City Council meeting Tuesday night, local residents continued to vehemently oppose the ICE facility.
“Despite the good that we have in Surprise, this facility will be a stain on our city,” resident Maureen Miller said during a call to the public.
Residents cited issues ranging from medical neglect in detention centers to distrust over DHS’s claim that the 418,000-square-foot space would hold a maximum of only 542 people.
And repeatedly, residents have voiced concerns over the facility’s proposed location near a cluster of schools. Dysart High School students were among those who spoke against the facility Tuesday night, and a student-led petition against the facility’s planned location has gathered more than 3,600 signatures in recent weeks.
Sartor said the Department of Homeland Security has made several assurances about the facility’s impact on Surprise residents. For instance, Sartor said, DHS assured the mayor that ICE would avoid operations in sensitive areas — like schools, churches, and senior centers.
Community members who spoke at Tuesday’s call to the public were skeptical about those promises.
“Why, exactly, are we assuming that this is an administration that we can trust?” asked Natalie Lopez.
In a statement to AZPM, a DHS spokesperson said: “ICE is not going to schools or churches to make arrests.”
The spokesperson added: “If a dangerous or violent illegal criminal alien felon were to flee into a daycare, or a child sex offender is working as an employee, there may be a situation where an arrest is made to protect the safety of the children.”
Nationwide, educators and advocacy groups have raised alarms over ICE operating near and outside of schools — particularly in Minnesota, during a January surge in ICE operations.
“They are at our bus stops, following our buses, and they have been on my school property multiple times,” Columbia Heights, Minn. Superintendent Zena Stenvik told PBS NewsHour in January.
‘They wouldn't put anything in writing’ ##
Recounting the March 19 meeting with DHS, Councilmember Johnny Melton said he’d expressed concerns to federal officials about potential ICE raids in Surprise.
“I told them, ‘I'm not here, we're not here to be adversarial. I'm not trying to be hostile. But I can't have ICE agents … in the senior center. I can't have ICE agents in the Dysart Community Center. I can’t have them in our schools,” Melton said Tuesday.
To his surprise, Melton said, DHS “agreed to that.”
Still, Melton and Councilmember Chris Judd noted that the talks with DHS had been verbal, rather than written or legally binding agreements.
“I have a lot of concerns about these plans, and, you know, first and foremost is the fact that they wouldn't put anything in writing,” Judd said Tuesday.
Melton said U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, whose district includes Surprise, is working with ICE to formalize a legally binding agreement between the federal government and the city.
Sitting at the dais Tuesday night, Judd in particular appeared to weigh the city’s options in attempting to modify or even hinder the ICE facility.
“They can have a meeting with us and say all these great wonderful things, that, if they were to come true, would be amazing. But they could also be shining us on to get us to shut the heck up, so they can get far enough along so we no longer have the ability to stop this,” he said.
Toward the end of Tuesday’s four-hour meeting, Judd proposed a future agenda item to further address the facility.
“I want an item on the agenda to take action on the proposed DHS facility, potentially giving staff direction and permission to protect our local authority, our water supply, and our residents,” he said.
For a moment, the room erupted in applause.
