Sheridan, is now sheriff-elect. Sheridan was part of the problem in 2013 when a federal judge found the sheriff’s office guilty of widespread racial profiling, ordering a host of reforms that are still being implemented and that have cost county taxpayers more than $250 million so far. Reza believes Sheridan is unlikely to resume the sheriff’s office’s immigration enforcement activities while under a federal judge’s thumb. But the Latino community has a new problem. Proposition 314, which passed comfort- ably, makes it a crime for noncitizens to enter the country from other than a port of entry. It also empowers local police to make arrests and local judges to order deportations. Several Arizona sheriffs opposed the measure, in no small part because it is an unfunded mandate that will inevitably lead to racial profiling. One estimate pegs the cost to implement the state immigration scheme at $325 million a year. Prop. 314 is also a copycat of a Texas law, SB 4, which is now on hold due to constitutional chal- lenges brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other groups. The Arizona law wouldn’t go into effect unless its Texas counterpart is upheld by the courts. Thomas Saenz, MALDEF’s president and general counsel, said Prop. 314 “violates the supremacy of federal authority in the area of immigration.” The new law will not survive constitutional scrutiny and should not take effect, he added. But Saenz conceded that with Trump’s ascension to power, MALDEF was losing a vital partner in its challenge to the law: the federal government. The Biden adminis- tration opposed SB 4. It seems unlikely that Trump’s administration will do the same. Trump may also look to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program was created by the Barack Obama administration to protect persons brought to this country illegally while minors — the so-called DREAMers. As of September 2023, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, there were more than 544,000 DACA recipients in the U.S., including more than 20,000 in Arizona. The federal courts stopped the first Trump administration from eliminating DACA. Saenz suggested that because the DREAMers are viewed as sympathetic, Trump’s hostility to the program may not be “as deep as advertised.” Reza said there will certainly be “casual- ties” in the new immigration war, though he foresees an inevitable backlash to mass deportations because businesses need the workers Trump wants to boot from the U.S. “One of the things that I learned is that you never give up because the right wing never gives up,” he said. “They’re very consistent. Liberals are not.” POLICE REFORM A number of local pundits and politicians expressed skepticism of the U.S. Department of Justice’s blistering, 126-page June report, which blasted the Phoenix Police Department’s pattern and practice of depriving people of their rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. The report detailed, ad nauseam, the Phoenix police’s mistreatment of the homeless, discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities, First Amendment viola- tions, use of excessive and often unjustified deadly force, abuse of children and the handicapped and more. But as sickening as the details were, Phoenix’s political class was resistant to any substantial reform of the police department. Mitchell, Ruben Gallego, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and most of the Phoenix City Council either openly or quietly opposed a consent decree, an offi- cial agreement between the DOJ and the city that would implement much-needed reform under the oversight of a federal judge. And yet, there seemed to be an ah-ha moment in October when police body camera footage was released showing Phoenix police jumping, beating and Tasering 34-year-old Tyron McAlpin, an unarmed Black deaf man who has cerebral palsy. McAlpin had been falsely accused of theft by a white man, prompting the police to seek him out and attack him. He was charged with felony resisting arrest and aggravated assault and was held for 24 days in jail, unable to make bail. In response to the outcry, Mitchell dropped the charges against McAlpin. Public demands for a consent decree were renewed, and the DOJ’s report seemed justified. Even on-air hosts at Phoenix’s largely conservative talk radio station, KTAR, were aghast. “Everything they did in this video is exactly what the DOJ report is accusing the Phoenix police department of doing,” Bruce St. James of KTAR’s “Bruce and Gaydos” show told listeners. “They literally became an example of it.” Indeed, the report blasted the police department’s tendency to use force against those with disabilities, especially mental disabilities. In general, according to the report, “Phoenix has trained its officers that all force—even deadly force—is de-escalation.” The report described a similar incident to McAlpin’s arrest in which Phoenix offi- cers “pressed a deaf man’s neck and head down for over 20 minutes after they had handcuffed and restrained him with leg ties.” Despite being told the man was deaf, officers continued to shout commands at the man as he cried and dry-heaved. Before the election, Phoenix faced either voluntarily signing the consent decree or being taken to court by the DOJ, costing the city millions of dollars in litiga- tion. Phoenix civil rights attorney Stephen Montoya said he advised Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego to support a consent decree, but he acknowledged that even had Harris won, Phoenix was unlikely to go willingly to the negotiating table. Under Harris, the feds could have marshaled a “crack team” of attorneys and paraded maybe 100 or 200 witnesses before a judge to say “they were screwed over by the Phoenix police,” Montoya said. With the DOJ carrying enormous weight with the federal court and with the burden of proof being a preponderance of the evidence, Phoenix “would have lost.” But with Trump the victor in the presi- dential contest, the idea of police reform seems deader than blacktop roadkill. Trump, of course, has openly indulged in fantasies about police violence. In September, he suggested that “one rough hour” of law enforcement mayhem would end organized retail theft, a suggestion critics likened to the movie The Purge. No wonder Montoya, who has more than three decades of experience prac- ticing in federal court, believes a consent decree ain’t gonna happen. “Now that Trump has taken charge, I think there’s no way this city is going to sign any consent decree,” he said. In June, the U.S. Department of Justice found that Phoenix police routinely violate the civil rights of citizens, including unhoused people. (Photo by Katya Schwenk) >> p 16
