Pima County board 'condemns' ICE arrest of Tucson mom near courthouse

Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Jennifer Allen said the county “condemns in the strongest terms possible federal immigration enforcement in Pima County,” in an emailed statement on the Tuesday arrest of the 45-year-old woman, who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age 4.

“Public safety is paramount in the County. All members of the public — no matter their standing under federal immigration law — should be able to appear for court proceedings, or visit County legal services offices, or seek County public services at any of our facilities, without fear of detention by federal authorities,” Allen wrote.

"Creating a culture of fear within our community only harms public safety. The federal government’s harmful and militant actions against people who are no threat to the public or the nation prompted the Pima County Board of Supervisors to adopt Resolution 2026-10 barring the use of County property as staging areas for immigration enforcement," the Democratic elected official continued. 

The Star reported Tuesday on the woman’s arrest after she attended a hearing on a noise-ordinance violation issued by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. The woman’s children asked the Star to identify her only as “Ana,” due to their fear of public harassment.

While the exact location of immigration agents’ arrest of Ana is in dispute, her children questioned how immigration agents knew she’d be leaving Pima County Consolidated Justice Court after a 9 a.m. scheduled hearing.

Ana’s eldest daughter spoke to her mother Tuesday from the Tucson ICE field office on South Country Club, where Ana was being detained.

In the call, Ana told her daughter that she believed she encountered the ICE agents on the street outside Justice Court, but the exact location she described wasn’t clear, her daughter recalled to the Star.

After the Star’s deadline for the July 28 story, ICE spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe said in an emailed statement that Ana was arrested Tuesday at the intersection of West Council Street and North Church Avenue.

The area is in view of the Justice Court, which is on North Stone Avenue.

“ICE officers observed (Ana) walking west on Council Street and arrested her at that location,” Pitts O’Keefe said in the July 29 statement. “ICE did not surveil the Pima County courthouse, and the arrest did not occur on county property.”

Allen said she “wholeheartedly condemned” ICE operations for administrative immigration detentions, on behalf of the county board, in her statement.

"ICE operations are making our communities less safe. The real solution is to create pathways for people to obtain legal residency and citizenship, not torment and terror by federal agents,” Allen said.

"I will reiterate to local Homeland Security officials that the County will not tolerate the use of its property for federal immigration enforcement and ensure that County employees are prepared if and when they encounter ICE agents on County property."

ICE’s Pitts O’Keefe said Ana was allowed to voluntarily depart the U.S. in 2006 and that she returned without permission at a later date.

ICE's statement said Ana has several citations on her record. Tucson City Court records show a 2006 domestic violence incident, in which Ana pleaded guilty to “knowingly touching another person with the intent to injure, insult or provoke such person,” a class-3 misdemeanor. In 2020, she pleaded guilty to the civil infraction of “unruly gathering.”

She’s had several traffic citations since 1998, including a misdemeanor for driving on a suspended license, and multiple instances of failure to appear in court.

In a Tuesday statement on Ana’s arrest, U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, a Tucson Democrat, called for a bar on immigration enforcement near courthouses and other sensitive locations. She said her office is working to assist Ana’s family.

“These tactics are completely unacceptable, cruel, and only serve to erode trust and undermine community safety. Congress must pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act to ensure courthouses, schools, hospitals, and other essential community spaces remain safe and accessible,” Grijalva’s statement said. “When people fear they may be detained for showing up to court, seeking medical care, or taking their children to school, everyone is less safe.”