(C) Arizona Mirror
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GOP lawmakers are building school-to-deportation pipelines with the ‘Arizona ICE Act’ [1]

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Date: 2025-04-11

In the name of public safety, Arizona lawmakers, led by Republican Senate President Warren Petersen, want to force police departments to hold undocumented crime suspects with federal immigration detainers.

“Go back to Africa!” and “Go back to Mexico!” are phrases that countless Black and Brown adults recall hearing during their childhoods, a reminder that many still see us as criminals and outsiders. These slurs, wielded as weapons, send the clear message that we do not belong in our own country.

I’ve had “Go Back to Africa” yelled at me repeatedly from childhood through adulthood. The Trump administration has already said it wants to send U.S. prisoners — which means Black Americans, given how Black people disproportionately make up prison populations — to a maximum security prison labor camp in El Salvador, from which they may never return. It’s not a stretch to expect that the Trump administration will soon do whatever it can to deport Black Americans to countries they’ve never been to, merely the latest extension of the targeting by law enforcement of Black and Brown communities — targeting we see in action through School Resource Officers and ICE enforcement in places that should be safe, like schools.

Now, Arizona lawmakers are reinforcing the same exclusion with Senate Bill 1164, also known as the Arizona Immigration, Cooperation, and Enforcement Act (Arizona ICE Act). The measure, which would mandate state and local law enforcement work with ICE, targeting individuals under ICE detainers and banning policies that limit immigration enforcement, cleared its final legislative hurdle and now awaits its fate with Gov. Katie Hobbs.

This bill echoes SB1070, the infamous “Show Me Your Papers” law of 2010, which encouraged racial profiling and gave law enforcement unchecked power to interrogate anyone suspected of being undocumented. Though most of SB1070 was struck down as unconstitutional, its racist legacy persists, justifying the criminalization of immigrants and laying the groundwork for policies like SB1164.

The bill poses a serious threat to our children’s future, particularly their education. By placing Black, Brown and immigrant students under constant surveillance, it turns schools into spaces of anxiety rather than learning. It will strengthen systems that funnels students into prisons, detention centers and even deportation.

Across the country, aggressive immigration enforcement, such as using school records or false information to track families, have led to an increase in chronic absenteeism among Brown students. The fear of deportation discourages attendance, disrupting education and widening the achievement gap. This increases the risk of students being forced out of school and into the school-to-prison or school-to-deportation pipeline.

As students wrestle with physical threats, hate crimes and psychological stress, they find it harder to focus, engage with peers and trust their school environment. This struggle often leads to harsher disciplinary actions that disproportionately impact Black and Brown students. Students’ tardiness and absences have gone from being met with a simple warning to in-school suspensions, to full multi-day out-of-school suspensions, reflecting a system that punishes rather than supports.

An investigation by The Hechinger Report and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting found that:

Black students make up 6% of total enrollment and 15% of suspensions.

Latino students represent 43% of total enrollment and 68% of suspensions.

White students account for 37% of total enrolment and 23% of suspensions.

Arizona lawmakers are using SB1164 to double down on the same old playbook: more punishment, more fear. Schools are battlegrounds for Black and Brown students who are already policed by School Resource Officers and maybe soon ICE agents.

Arizona continues to tear down students instead of lifting them up. SB1164 would deepen racial inequities, prioritizing punishment over protection and fear over opportunity. It would increase chronic absenteeism, discipline issues and erode trust between families and schools.

Rather than nurturing growth, the bill aims to turn schools into environments of fear, especially in minoritized communities, where they resemble prisons and detention centers more than places of learning. Research shows that schools without resource officers have lower rates of exclusionary discipline (like the zero-tolerance policies) and better academic outcomes. By removing ICE enforcement, as Phoenix Union High School District has committed to doing, schools can create safer, more supportive environments where students feel safe and stay engaged.

The Arizona ICE Act will instill widespread panic, much like SB1070 did. Fifteen years ago, immigrant families avoided hospitals, grocery stores, and even schools to escape harassment. Aggressive immigration enforcement in schools fuels fear, making both immigrant and non-immigrant students feel unsafe especially following immigration raids.

ICE agents and police officers in schools don’t serve as protectors. They serve as deterrents — not to violence, but rather to student success and fulfillment. Their presence tells Black and Brown students that they are suspects first and students second. It also reminds immigrant families that stepping into a school could mean losing everything.

The Trump administration’s executive order dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, including its civil rights enforcement, worsens these fears. By cutting investigations into discrimination against students of color and those with disabilities, it allows such practices to go unregulated. Title I funding, which supports low-income students, is at risk and may be funneled into private K-12 schools, further deepening educational disparities and creating additional obstacles for minoritized students.

If Arizona lawmakers truly cared about education, they would be investing in resources for students, not pushing racist, punitive policies that rob children of their civil right to learn.

Every parent hopes to give their child a better life. But access to a safe, enriching education increasingly seems reserved for those with privilege and resources. For the rest of us, school feels more like preparation for incarceration.

Arizona has a history of enacting anti-immigrant laws that target our communities, from SB1070 to SB1164. These laws have repeatedly violated rights, separated families and pushed children out of school.

Ultimately, the Arizona ICE ACT won’t just impact those directly targeted by it; it will destabilize the foundation of Arizona’s education system. By inciting fear and increasing punitive measures, the bill creates a more hostile learning environment for vulnerable students, hindering their academic success and long-term well-being.

If enacted, it will deepen divides in education and community cohesion, making it even harder for marginalized students to succeed.

Arizona’s schools should be bastions of learning and success, not fear. It’s now up to Hobbs to decide whether Arizona police will become the stooges of federal immigration agents.

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[1] Url: https://azmirror.com/2025/04/11/gop-lawmakers-are-building-school-to-deportation-pipelines-with-the-arizona-ice-act/

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