PHOENIX (AP) — A bill approved by the Arizona Legislature would require city and county police agencies to have their officers tackle federal immigration violations.
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Local agencies could meet the requirement by getting training for their police and jail officers, putting federal immigration agents in units within their departments or cultivating relationships with federal authorities to confront the problem.
A small number of local police agencies in Arizona have already sought special training to enforcement federal immigration law.
The training lets police officers make immigration arrests while carrying out their regular duties. It also allows jail officers to speed up the deportations of criminal immigrants after they complete sentences on state violations, thus reducing local corrections costs and getting them in the hands of federal authorities quicker.
The bill also would prohibit county and city governments from having policies that prevent or restrict them from receiving or exchanging information about people’s immigration status in certain instances.
Those cases include determining the eligibility of people for public benefits that are off limits to illegal immigrants, confirming the identity of arrested people and verifying people’s status if the status is required under law.
The bill drew support from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and the Arizona Police Association and opposition from the city of Phoenix and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.
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