Phoenix City Council Approves Community Transparency Initiative to Document Impacts of Federal Immigration Enforcement
The mayor and City Council of Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, voted on October 21 to approve the Community Transparency Initiative (CTI), a comprehensive framework to document federal immigration enforcement activity in the city in a structured, transparent way and assess its impacts on residents and city services, the City of Phoenix newsroom said.
The council moved forward six core areas of work: a multilingual complaint platform called Sivil, to be implemented within 60 days by the Office of Accountability and Transparency, with reports reviewed by the Phoenix Police Department's Special Investigations Detail; tracking of staff time and resources when federal enforcement actions affect city operations, along with monitoring of impacts on small businesses and the local economy; a new Know Your Rights webpage with multilingual resources; multilingual CTI materials; new training for city employees who may encounter federal officers; and a proposed administrative regulation restricting unauthorized use of city parks, libraries and other facilities as staging areas for civil law enforcement actions, which would sunset in 2029.
"The behavior we saw in Minneapolis, Portland, and Chicago – and here in Phoenix – is un-American. It doesn't make us safer. The actions the City took today are important steps to ensure we are prepared if we see escalated federal immigration enforcement activity," Mayor Kate Gallego said, noting the city has heard from countless concerned residents, including interpreters who supported US troops in Afghanistan.
The city noted that Arizona law restricts local limits on federal immigration enforcement, and that the CTI is designed to use every tool available under federal and state law to increase transparency and protect civil rights. The initiative does not interfere with federal agencies' lawful investigations or emergency responses, nor with the city's partnerships with federal law enforcement on serious crimes such as drug and human trafficking.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，作者 Hngrange，CC BY-SA 3.0（Phoenix 市中心全景） / Photo: Wikimedia Commons, by Hngrange, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Downtown Phoenix panorama)
