North Pima News

A new bill could make sanctuary jurisdictions civilly liable for not complying with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers.

House Bill 2598, sponsored by Rep. Bret Roberts, would allow people to sue cities who don't comply with these requests from federal immigration officials, and it is headed to the floor of the House to be debated soon.

A sanctuary jurisdiction is "an official agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision" that limits the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent according to the text of the bill. 

The bill would impose civil penalties for officials, cities or agencies who knowingly fail to enforce an immigration detainer. An immigration detainer is a custody transfer request that instructs law enforcement agencies to hold a person for up to 48 business hours beyond the time they would have otherwise been released. This allows time for ICE to collect the individual and begin deportation proceedings. The American Immigration Council says that these are only requests made by ICE and compliance is voluntary.

Darrell Hill, a policy director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, told the Arizona Mirror that ICE detainers infringe upon due process rights. 

ICE issues detainers for people without immigration status or those with immigration status who have committed an offense that makes them eligible for deportation. 

Roberts' bill also allows for victims of crimes that resulted from failed immigration enforcement to sue for civil damages. The jurisdiction that failed to comply with the detainer also has to reimburse the state for the cost of detaining the person.

Rep. John Kavanagh, who previously drafted a similar bill of his own, said the bill is about compensation, not immigration – legal or illegal. 

Rep. Isela Blanc, previously an undocumented immigrant, asked her colleagues to, "stop politicizing and demonizing us and start seeing us for who we are: contributors to this nation and to the community because we love  America,” she said. “This bill is so wrong, all it is doing is dividing.”