Residents urge Mesa to end 287(g) agreement, saying it erodes trust and harms vulnerable people
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Summary
Multiple public commenters at the Feb. 23 council meeting urged Mesa to cancel its 287(g) agreement with ICE, saying the arrangement harms community trust in police and leads to fear and human rights concerns; the transcript records impassioned testimony but no council action on the matter that evening.
Several residents used the Feb. 23 public‑comment period to urge the Mesa City Council to end the city’s 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing the arrangement harms community trust in police and endangers migrants.
April Joy told the council she opposed the city’s participation in the 287(g) agreement, saying the program “did nothing to create safer communities” and accusing the city of complicity in violence and fear when law enforcement works with ICE. “Council members, by engaging in this failing 287(g) agreement, you’re complicit…in this increased violence,” she said, naming academic authors whom she said had researched the program’s effects.
Mary Pritchard, a Mesa resident, said she believed the agreement had damaged trust between parts of the community and the Mesa Police Department, described residents’ fear of leaving their homes, and asserted that people die in ICE detention due to inadequate care. “How can we have our law enforcement working with an agency such as ICE that is extremely violent and has shown little respect for the laws?” she asked. Pritchard urged the council to cancel the agreement.
The transcript records forceful public testimony but does not include a council response, an agenda item specifically to reconsider the agreement, or a recorded motion on the matter during that meeting.
