Friends of Flagstaff’s Future update for April 16. ‘F3 Needs YOU at Council on Tuesday!’

This coming Tuesday, April 17, Keep Flagstaff Together is asking Flagstaff residents to come to the City Council meeting to support a resolution calling on Sheriff Jim Driscoll to stop cooperating with ICE by accepting ICE detainers.

It’s been sad and surprising to learn that Sheriff Driscoll continues to cooperate with ICE, above and beyond what is required by either federal law or SB 1070. He has chosen to honor requests from ICE to hold inmates suspected of being undocumented for up to 48 hours so that ICE has time to pick them up. This kind of policy has bee judged to be unconstitutional, a violation of 4th amendment rights, by several courts. 

Keep Flagstaff Together met with Sheriff Driscoll for many hours, trying to convince him to revise jail policy so that it does not unnecessarily (and illegally) expose people to the injury of deportation. He was not asked to violate any state or federal law. But he was asked to revise his tradition of unhesitatingly cooperating with ICE. He has steadfastly refused to do so.

A law suit has now been brought against the Sheriff, his jail commander, and the Jail District Board. The suit was filed by attorneys at Aspey, Watkins, and Diesel who said that this suit is long overdue.

While the suit is in the courts (and it may a lengthy process), Keep Flagstaff Together is calling on the City Council to issue a non-binding resolution, requesting that County Jail policy be changed. Why is the City being asked to weigh in? Because people who are arrested by Flagstaff city police and taken to jail, are taken to the County jail where they are then under the regulation of Sheriff Driscoll’s jail policies.

Keep Flagstaff Together wants to send a clear message from the community of Flagstaff that Sheriff Driscoll’s decision to cooperate  unnecessarily with ICE is not in line with the ethos of our community.

Please come to the Council meeting on Monday and help KFT make the statement that Flagstaff is a welcoming, compassionate community.

Please wear white to send a visual message to council. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

If you cannot attend, please consider sending an email to members of the Council, letting them know that you support the request for a non-binding resolution, calling on Sheriff Driscoll to stop honoring ICE detainers and unnecessarily cooperating with ICE.

Four Council members directed staff to move forward with efforts to place a measure on the 2018 ballot to create a bond for workforce housing. Staff will now be working on a community survey, bond language, pamphlet language, etc. to bring info back to Council.

Council will have to vote on the official ballot language in June.

You can show your support by thanking the council members who supported this measure. The council members who supported the housing bond were:

Mayor Coral Evans                            cevans@flagstaffaz.gov
Vice Mayor Jamie Whelan                jwhelan@flagstaffaz.gov
Celia Barotz                                        cbarotz@flagstaffaz.gov
Eva Putzova                                        eputzova@flagstaffaz.gov

There were two “maybes” last night from Council re: the potential bond measure. Those were Scott Overton and Jim McCarthy. Please consider emailing them to express your support for the housing bond proposal and encourage them to vote in favor of the bond for 2018 in the future.

Scott Overton                                    soverton@flagstaffaz.gov
Jim McCarthy                                     jmccarthy@flagstaffaz.gov

There was one “no” – Charlie Odegaard. Charlie did not support “borrowing” money in the form of a bond, paying interest on the loan to provide assistance in the form of development assistance and down payment assistance. If you’d like to email him to ask him to change his mind and support the housing bond effort, his contact info is below.

Charlie Odegaard                             codegaard@flagstaffaz.gov