Community organizers take steps to disincorporate city of Surprise due to planned ICE facility

Community organizers filed a petition Tuesday to disincorporate the city of Surprise in response to city leaders’ handling of a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.

“If the cities elected and professional leadership cannot stand up, will not stand up, will not take a stand to even meet with their constituents to discuss critical issues of safety and security. Then maybe this city doesn’t deserve to have its own independent control,” organizer Jeremy Helfgot said during a news conference.

The petition comes as residents have continuously voiced their opposition to the federal government’s plan to convert a 418,000-square-foot warehouse into an ICE detention center capable of holding up to 1,500 people.

The safety issues Helfgot cites are in reference to a Rinchem facility that stores thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals and is located in an industrial area across from the warehouse that would be converted.

Helfgot explained that if the petition’s language is approved by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, he would have 180 days to collect 70,000 signatures in order to disincorporate the city and return all of its properties, holdings, assets and resources to the county. According to the city’s website, it has more than 160,000 residents.

“We know it’s going to require a lot of work, but it is worth the effort to protect this community if its leaders won’t protect it,” Helfgot said. “This is attainable. The people of this city want leadership that will protect their safety, their security and their well-being, and the current leadership isn’t.”

Surprise resident Brittney Bishop, 26, who has lived in the city since she was five and is part of ICE Out Surprise, AZ, expressed her support for the effort to disincorporate the city.

“I hope my fellow residents will be supportive,” Bishop said. “The people of Surprise have been coming to these city council meetings and we’ve actually been shortened on time for the number of speakers. They shortened us down to 30 minutes … 3-minute speech (per person), that’s about 10 people. That’s not representing Surprise. So, this represents Surprise.”

The news conference was held prior to the Surprise City Council’s final meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. before a two-month summer break.

During the meeting, Councilman Patrick Duffy requested a severity report should a catastrophic event take place at the Rinchem facility. Despite the request receiving applause from audience members, the council did not take immediate action regarding the report for when they return after the summer break.

State and city have taken action to try to stop ICE facility

In May, the city of Surprise sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asking the agency to ensure its activities at the planned detention facility comply with state and local laws.

Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor has previously said the city lacks legal grounds to stop the facility, which DHS purchased for $70 million in January.

Additionally, DHS agreed to pay the city $300,000 annually for use of the facility and to offset the lost tax revenue from a previously planned commercial distribution center.

In April, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes also sued DHS to block the project, arguing the agency skipped required environmental reviews and chose an unsafe industrial site.

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