Brenna Goth

The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — Mayor Greg Stanton responded Thursday to calls for the city to defy state law on immigration issues, saying he wouldn't ask local police officers to do what activists say it will take to make Phoenix a sanctuary city.

Stanton responded in a statement to a citizen petition presented to the City Council on Wednesday asking to change Phoenix Police Department policy and stop cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. While no exact definition exists of a sanctuary city, local activists have said it requires ending a department policy regarding immigration enforcement.

Though community groups have for weeks escalated their calls for Stanton to change the policy, they aren't behind the petition the council expects to respond to on Feb. 15. It’s unclear how the item will appear on the council agenda, or if council members will take a vote.

Resident Rick Robinson filed the petition in response to President Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order penalizing sanctuary cities, or jurisdictions that "willfully violate" federal immigration laws.

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Stanton called Robinson, a two-time Arizona state House of Representatives candidate, a “Republican political operative.” Robinson said he delivered the petition to spark a decision by the city and didn't know why he would "be considered more than an ordinary Republican."

Leaders of Puente Human Rights Movement​, a group pushing Phoenix to become a sanctuary city, said they didn't know about the Phoenix city charter rules regarding petitions. Executive Director Carlos Garcia said he thinks Robinson has political motivations, but that the petition serves Puente's goals.

“We would ask for the same stance to protect our families,” he said.

Stanton has spoken against the Trump administration's deportation plans and said Thursday that Phoenix will not participate in the 287(g) program to deputize local police to help federal immigration enforcement through agreements with agencies and jails.

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But whether Phoenix can be a sanctuary city is dictated by state law, Stanton said. Phoenix police operate under the provisions of Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 that were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Police policy prohibits officers from profiling people based on race, color or national origin to ask their immigration status. But they cooperate with federal immigration agencies in a variety of circumstances.

That includes making a “reasonable attempt” to determine the immigration status of a person stopped or detained in some situations, or transporting people with immigration violations in others.

“We must respect the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision and the rule of law — and I will not ask Phoenix police officers to knowingly violate the law,” Stanton said.

But Puente's Garcia said his organization won’t let Stanton talk “out of both sides of his mouth.”

Puente is encouraged by Stanton's opposition to the 287(g) program, Garcia said. Phoenix police, though, already are acting as a "deportation force" by complying with what remains of SB 1070, he said.

Puente is asking Stanton to defy state law and “do away with the status quo,” Garcia said.

Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, said in a statement that Phoenix could improve its policing with a number of reforms conforming to current laws.

Those include updating policies regarding the questioning of students, crime victims, passengers and witnesses, and collecting data on the race of people who are stopped to prove unbiased policing, she said.

"We hope that Mayor Stanton and the Phoenix Police Department now act with the urgency they’ve lacked in recent years to protect Phoenix residents —immigrants or otherwise — from racial profiling and discriminatory immigration enforcement," she said.

Follow Brenna Goth on Twitter: @brennagoth