Pima County GOP won't appeal ruling that allows 'sanctuary city' initiative to remain on ballot

Opponents of Tucson’s “sanctuary city” initiative will not appeal a judge’s ruling that dismissed their legal challenge to the ballot question.

Pima County Republican Party Chairman David Eppihimer continued to criticize the ruling issued Friday by Pima County Superior Court Judge Douglas Metcalf, saying the judge ignored key arguments made by attorneys for several residents who filed the suit with GOP funding.

But Eppihimer acknowledged Tuesday the costs of mounting another challenge against the initiative are one reason why the local GOP opted against continuing the legal fight.

He added that there were serious doubts whether an appeals court would side with them after Metcalf rejected six of the claims opponents made in trying to throw the initiative off the November ballot.

The initiative, also known as the “Tucson Families Free & Together” measure, or Proposition 205, seeks to make Tucson the state’s first “sanctuary city.”

The People’s Defense Initiative, a grassroots group formed last year, gathered more than 18,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot, about twice as many as required.

Eppihimer said the local GOP will focus now on opposing Prop. 205.

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“There will be quite a lot of opposition to this (measure) and we will join with that,” he said.

He predicted the groups will focus on what he argues will be serious threats to public safety, a loss of state-shared revenue and a public-relations nightmare if the initiative passes in November.

On the other side, Zaira Livier, director and co-founder of the People’s Defense Initiative, said with all of the legal challenges out of the way, her group will focus on taking the issue to the voters.

The GOP choosing to not appeal “the fast, swift, and direct failure of their lawsuit is the smartest thing they have done thus far,” she said. “Prop. 205 is on the ballot and we are confident that Tucson voters will not yield to the fear tactics, threats, or racists/xenophobic rhetoric which has long been the go-to tool of Republican Arizona legislators to get their way,” she said in a written statement.

Officially, Tucson is an “immigrant-welcoming city” — a designation the City Council approved in 2012.

City officials say the city has no policies or regulations that prohibit or limit the enforcement of federal immigration laws that are typically associated with sanctuary cities.

Supporters of the initiative say it puts the force of law behind many guidelines already in place in Tucson that guide circumstances under which police officers can ask about immigration status. The initiative would also add protections for some victims of crime and prohibit certain collaborations between the city and federal agencies, among other provisions.