AZ AG Finds Phoenix Not Violating SB1070

On Monday, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office issued a report finding that the Phoenix Police Department is not violating provisions of SB1070. SB1070 requires police officers to ascertain the legal status of people they suspect of being in the country illegally.

Arizona State Senator John Kavanagh had asked the Attorney General’s Office for an investigation into the matter. Sen. Kavanagh was concerned that a
a police policy, Operations Order 4.48, adopted by the Phoenix City Council on April 19, 2017, in a vote of 6-3, illegally restricted when officers can make immigration inquiries.

“The Request raises concerns that the Operations Order limits or restricts information sharing relating to immigration status and “the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law” in violation of A.R.S. § 11-1051, but the Operations Order affirms (and is not contrary to) S.B. 1070,” found the Attorney General’s Office. “The Operations Order confirms a role for the Phoenix Police Department in immigration enforcement in partnership with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). It mandates that officers reach out to ICE. It repeats the legislature’s instructional language from A.R.S. § 11-1051(L), making plain that “all immigration enforcement activities” shall be conducted “in a manner consistent with federal and state laws regulating immigration.” And, echoing A.R.S. § 11-1051(A), the Operations Order affirms that “[t]his policy will not limit the enforcement of federal and state immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by law.” Moreover, it bears mention that the Operations Order followed the City Council’s February 2017 refusal (by a 7-2 vote) to become a “sanctuary city…”

Vice Mayor Laura Pastor called the finding a “validation of justice and an example of the strength of the rule of law.”

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