{"id":18256,"date":"2017-02-16T10:32:02","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=18256"},"modified":"2017-02-16T10:32:02","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T15:32:02","slug":"phoenix-council-rejects-sanctuary-city-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2017\/02\/16\/phoenix-council-rejects-sanctuary-city-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Council Rejects Sanctuary City Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Phoenix Council Rejects Sanctuary City Proposal<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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\"\"PHOENIX (Courthouse News)\u00a0– 2\/16\/17 – \u00a0Phoenix will not become a sanctuary city, after its City Council voted 7-2 against the measure Wednesday in a raucous and contentious meeting.<\/p>\n

The vote came two weeks after a petition was submitted to the City Council by Rick Robinson, a two-time Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives, requesting that Phoenix declare itself a sanctuary city \u2014 in effect, that it direct its police not to act as federal immigration officials.<\/p>\n

Robinson submitted the petition after President Donald Trump\u2019s Jan. 25\u00a0<\/span>executive order<\/a>, requiring \u201cstate and local law enforcement agencies across the country to perform the functions of an immigration officer.\u201d Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities.<\/p>\n

For nearly two hours Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council heard emotional testimonies afternoon from both sides of the debate.<\/p>\n

Vince Anselmo, of Riders USA, which says its mission is to defend the sovereignty of the United States, told the council at the standing-room-only meeting that they would be pandering to voters if they made Phoenix a sanctuary city.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have come across the border illegally have in fact raped, murdered, stole from American citizens,\u201d Anselmo said. \u201cThis needs to stop and sanctuary cities are a no-brainer and should be a no vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos Garcia, director of civil rights group Puente Arizona, cited the\u00a0<\/span>deportation<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>of an undocumented immigrant to Mexico last week as cause for the council to act swiftly and vote affirmatively.<\/p>\n

Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, a mother of two children born in the United States, was deported to Mexico after she was detained by ICE under Trump\u2019s executive order. She had lived in the United States for 22 years after coming to the county when she was 14 years old. She was arrested in 2008 during a workplace raid under then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and was issued a deportation order in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we learned this last week is how ICE is going to function,\u201d Carlos Garcia said during the meeting. \u201cThey are going to separate our families; they are going to move violently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix police enforce a provision of the controversial Arizona Senate Bill 1070 that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Under that law, officers are required to check a person\u2019s immigration status.<\/p>\n

Most of the law\u2019s other provisions were\u00a0<\/span>struck down<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>by the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe country is turning into Arizona; 1070 is moving nationally,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWhat we care is that our families remain together, and the only way to do that is to move quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio, one of the council\u2019s three Republicans, told Garcia he has a lot of respect for him and for Puente\u2019s members.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cYou are going to be very disappointed by the end of this,\u201d DiCiccio said. \u201cThe city of Phoenix will never be a sanctuary city. It doesn\u2019t mean that people like myself don\u2019t respect what you are trying to do out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council called on Police Chief Jeri Williams to speak at the meeting, and she said: \u201cWe are guided by state law. We don\u2019t get to pick and choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most council members announced their intent to vote against the petition before the meeting, including Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Stanton has indicated he is hesitant to use the city police force to enforce federal immigration law, but said at the meeting that he could not cast a vote that would break the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiverting our police department from its mission would shatter trust,\u201d Stanton said. \u201cThis issue is settled as a matter of law. It was settled for Phoenix and any other Arizona city by Senate Bill 1070.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council voted to discuss in executive session potential legal options that the city could take against SB 1070.<\/p>\n

DiCiccio said moving the matter to an executive session was a \u201cB.S. move\u201d and an \u201cinside game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen with this council here,\u201d DiCiccio said about any potential lawsuit challenging SB 1070. \u201cWe already follow federal and state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Pew Research Center, about 250,000 residents of Phoenix are undocumented.<\/p>\n

The sanctuary city moniker takes its name from the Sanctuary Movement, which began at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson in the early 1980s. The Rev. John Fife wrote to immigration officials that he would open his church to refugees fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, and that as refugees, he believed his guests were legally in the United States. The movement spread nationwide.<\/p>\n

Tucson, unlike Phoenix, was then and remains a Democratic outpost in Republican Arizona.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Council Rejects Sanctuary City Proposal \u00a0 PHOENIX (Courthouse News)\u00a0– 2\/16\/17 – \u00a0Phoenix will not become a sanctuary city, after its City Council voted 7-2 against the measure Wednesday in a raucous and contentious meeting. The vote came two weeks after a petition was submitted to the City Council by Rick Robinson, a two-time Republican […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":326029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18258,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18256\/revisions\/18258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}