PHOENIX β The state House voted late Thursday to forbid jail officials from releasing someone who immigration authorities want them to hold.
HB 2121 would make it illegal for any public official to refuse to comply with an βimmigration detainer.β That is a formal request by the Department of Homeland Security that a state or local agency keep for up to 48 hours someone not in this country legally, giving time for federal agents to pick them up.
But the measure by Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, goes even further β creating daily fines if an agency or representative for that agency is found by a judge to have violated the immigration detainer request and released someone from custody.
HB 2121 also spells out that any person who is injured by someone who is released when there is a detainer request can sue the individual, agency or official responsible for the release.
The move comes on the heels of the decision by Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone that his jails will hold people no longer than necessary to process them for the state charges they are facing if a judge has ordered them released.
It does not stop notification of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the county has someone the feds may want. But it spells out that if federal agents want someone they have to arrive before release processing is done.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said thatβs whatβs required by federal law.
βThe Fourth Amendment does not allow a local law enforcement official to detain someone longer than necessary to process a state court-ordered release,β he said.
Mark Napier, newly sworn in as Pima County sheriff, said he is keeping a policy of predecessor Chris Nanos about handling ICE detainers.
He said if federal agents tell them they want an inmate, his agency will inform them of when the release process starts. That generally provides them about 90 minutes.
And if no one from ICE shows up in that time, the person is released if thatβs what a judge has ordered, just the same as anyone who is a legal resident.
