This week in immigration news – February 20, 2020

Here are the items we are tracking this week:

A potential step back for civil rights in Arizona

The Arizona legislature is once again considering anti-immigrant legislation.

After Arizona Governor Doug Ducey called last month for a state constitutional amendment banning so-called sanctuary cities, now the state legislature is considering a series of bills that organizations like UnidosUS say would be a harmful and unnecessary step back to the days of Arizona’s SB-1070 law.

Language in the series of bills—SCR 1007, HCR 2036, and HB 2598—would require compliance with any order from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which question and detain people it suspects are violating immigration laws without a warrant.

As UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía stated:

“These bills will make Arizonans less safe by undermining police-community relations and impeding local law enforcement from doing their actual jobs by forcing them to act as untrained immigration agents.”

Trump takes aim at so-called sanctuary cities nationwide

The Trump administration is taking aim at sanctuary cities in states across the country.

The president suspended Global Entry for New York City residents after New York allowed undocumented residents to receive driver’s licenses. Additionally, President Trump has filed several lawsuits in response to sanctuary-style laws, and gone as far as asking the Supreme Court to strike down California’s sanctuary laws. Further, 13 states have received subpoenas from ICE asking for information on undocumented immigrants.

ICE is using information revealed in therapy as part of deportation cases

Hannah Dreier, national reporter for the Washington Post, sits down with What Next to talk about how what undocumented youth talk about in government-mandated therapy could affect their deportation cases.

ICE arrests a mother dropping her child off at Head Start

In Philadelphia, ICE officials arrested Veronica Carmen Lara-Marquez when she was dropping off her child at a Head Start program.

Lara-Marquez was told that she was being arrested for a deportation order that was issued when she lived in Virginia; she has lived in Pennsylvania since 2012. ICE did not respond to NBC Philadelphia when asked for comment on why they had arrested a parent near a school.

Man shot in the face by ICE seeks monetary compensation

Erick Diaz Cruz, who was shot in the face by ICE officers when they were detaining his mother’s partner, is now seeking monetary compensation for his injuries.

Diaz Cruz, as well as everyone else on the scene aside from the officers, was unarmed at the time of the confrontation.

ICE arrests a third-grade teacher

Hector Canedo-Sanchez, a third-grade teacher in southeast Portland, is fighting to stay in the United States.

Canedo-Sanchez was undocumented as a child and is now part of the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, which allows him to have temporary protection from deportation and work legally in the United States.

Four years ago, Canedo-Sanchez was charged with drunk driving. He completed a diversion program and the charges were dismissed. However, despite the fact that the charge is no longer on his record, immigration officials continue to push for his deportation.