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Residents and advocates urge Surprise council to block planned ICE detention facility
Summary
Dozens of residents criticized a planned Department of Homeland Security/ICE facility near Surprise neighborhoods and schools at a lengthy public-comment session, urging the council to pursue legal and policy steps to prevent the site’s use as a large detention center.
Dozens of residents and advocates urged the Surprise City Council on Feb. 17 to take stronger steps to prevent a nearby warehouse from being used as a 1,500‑bed ICE detention facility, saying the site would threaten school safety, local services and community trust.
At the meeting’s public-comment period, speakers described personal concerns about family separations, health care in detention, and the potential for protests and heavy enforcement in neighborhoods near the proposed site. "We are supposed to be the shining city on the hill," said Georgia Spillers, adding federal immigration policy should be enforced but asking the council to avoid actions that would impede enforcement. "I thank you for not officially opposing the enforcement of our immigration laws, and I would urge you to resist the calls to do so,"…
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