Political Notebook: Conover calls for peaceful recording of ICE actions

The disagreement, as far as I can tell, stems from the phrase "blanket resistance."

In a Jan. 12 column, I argued that events in Minneapolis and elsewhere show that Tucsonans and residents of other Democrat-run cities should exercise "blanket resistance" against federal immigration operations.

This was in part a response to a plea that Pima County Attorney Laura Conover made in December, asking that the community understand there is an "apples and oranges" difference between federal immigration operations derived from judicial warrants and "ICE sweeps." 

My argument was, and remains, that citizens should not be worried about distinguishing among types of immigration operations, because federal immigration officials now serve as the tip of the spear in a political effort, run from the White House, to repress Democratic states and cities. 

Conover responded with an email to supporters Jan. 12 countering my column, and a similar op-ed appeared in the Star Jan. 19. Conover and I also engaged in a full discussion on Bill Buckmaster's radio show on Friday, Jan. 16, that led to a detailed blow-by-blow from local writer David Morales on his Substack. 

Conover interpreted my column as a call to "meet recklessness with more recklessness," which was not my intent. Instead, she said on the Buckmaster show, she wants demonstrators to keep a safe distance from federal immigration operations and record anything they think may be illegal.

She explained, "If you think you’re observing illegal conduct on the part of a masked person, and you think they’re behaving illegally or improperly or using force unnecessarily, you using your phone and recording from a safe distance produces, captures, a piece of evidence of what you were seeing that could be quite useful and helpful later."

She added, "And you still go home that night to your loved ones. You’re uninjured, you’re safe. Versus, I get no evidence of whatever the activity was if instead you’re up in the face of a masked stranger, screaming profanity."

Of course, I never argued for or against getting in ICE agents' faces, interfering with their operations, or any other specific tactics. My argument was that the stakes have changed, and that protesting immigration operations now is a form of defending our right to exist as a city populace largely opposed to MAGA politics. 

On the Buckmaster show, I also challenged Conover on the question of whether the rule of law applies anymore, considering that the administration has said ICE agents have "absolute immunity" from prosecution, meaning they are above the law as far as the Justice Department is concerned. 

"Of course it does," Conover said. "We’re America. We have a Constitution. We have to, in fact, stand for that. If not now, when?"

She said she has been in touch with the offices of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who are investigating the Jan. 7 killing of observer Renee Good by an ICE agent. They were seeking information on Conover's successful effort to get access to a Tucson murder defendant whom the Justice Department had denied access to. 

Conover also noted she had had a lengthy lunch with Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar and encouraged him to persuade me to "tone down (my) rhetoric.

"You’re not going to take it from me," Conover said in the one laugh line of our exchange. "Lord knows I’ve learned that, Tim, in my time with you."

Conover emphasized that she doesn't want people mistakenly protesting at operations such as drug or gun busts carried out by other agencies and getting in trouble for it. I agree. But I also think there's some solace if other law enforcement officers learn that ICE agents, through their behavior, are screwing up operations for everyone. They could become pariahs. 

In the end, though, I think Conover and I mostly have a "rhetorical distinction without a practical difference," as I told Conover. After all, I specifically supported "peaceful protest" in my column, even if she didn't take it that way. 

But it would be folly to act as if things haven't changed with the daily repression in frigid Minneapolis, even for us in balmy Tucson. As the police chief of suburban Brooklyn Park, Minnesota described it Tuesday, "We have been receiving endless complaints about civil rights violations in our streets from U.S. citizens. They are being stopped on the streets with no cause and asked for paperwork to prove they are here legally."

All the targets, he said, including one of his off-duty officers, have been people of color.

So, call it "blanket resistance" or "peaceful protest" or a "nonviolent campaign" — the key, in my view, is that we not just accept a local campaign of political repression by federal immigration forces.

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Grijalva to St. Paul

Tucson's U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva went to St. Paul, Jan. 16, to join about 20 other members of Congress for a field hearing on ICE activities in the Twin Cities. 

She said Reneed Good was "murdered" and asserted that "What is happening in Minnesota is unfortunately all too familiar for Arizonans."

"What we are seeing here in Minnesota and what I have seen in Arizona is part of that same pattern: federal agents using force instead of restraint. Intimidation instead of engagement. Secrecy instead of transparency.

"That is why until significant reforms are made, Congress should not allocate another dime – ni un centavo (not even a cent) – to immigration enforcement agencies."

Congress is coming up against a Jan. 30 deadline to fund the government, but Democrats like Grijalva are lining up against funding the Department of Homeland Security unless ICE is reined in.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, the Arizona Democrat, told CNN: "We cannot vote for anything that actually adds more money and doesn’t constrain ICE. It’s not what we want out of ICE. We want a security force that is focused on targeting and deporting criminals. What they’re doing right now is none of that."

'Unprofessional' sticker

Rep. Alma Hernandez, the Tucson Democrat from Legislative District 21, called out a lobbyist in unusual comments at the Legislature Jan. 14. 

Her anger stemmed from a sticker on the back of lobbyist Hugo Palanco's laptop that said "Hernandon't." It's a reference to a website that targets Hernandez, her sister Rep. Consuelo Hernandez, and their brother Daniel Hernandez, who also has been in the Legislature. 

"I found it extremely inappropriate for Hugo Palanco from Creosote to show up to committee today with the sticker from the campaign that he is behind on his work laptop in committee testifying, pointing at me. I find it extremely disrespectful, a lack of decorum and unprofessional," she said on the House floor. 

She accused Palanco of putting up signs and stickers in her Tucson neighborhood bearing the same phrase, "Hernandon't." She noted that neither the stickers nor the website has any disclosure about who is paying for it and called that "illegal."

Creosote Partners is a progressive lobbying firm in Phoenix. Hernandez is running for state Senate this year.

UA grad launches show

A University of Arizona Journalism School graduate has launched a new daily show on the NewsNation network.

Katie Pavlich Tonight began this week with a bang: She interviewed Pres. Trump. Pavlich is a 2010 graduate of the UA who made her name in conservative journalistic outlets such as TownHall.com and Fox News.

Now, having been unable to get her own show on Fox, she's migrated to NewsNation, which describes itself as a site for "engaging and unbiased" news and aims to be a more centrist alternative network. Pavlich describes herself as conservative and told The Guardian, that showing her political leaning "is a more honest way of approaching the news, and reporting the news, because an audience knows exactly where I’m coming from."