Phoenix Proposition 405
Aims to ‘Protect Our City’
Aug. 17, 2006
PHOENIX -- The “Protect Our City” proposition has qualified for
the November voter ballot in Phoenix, aiming to abolish the city’s
highly controversial “sanctuary order” protecting illegal aliens.
Protect Our City is an amendment to the Phoenix City Charter,
similar in permanence to an amendment to the state or federal
constitutions. Amendments to the city charter can't be passed or
changed by the City Council; it requires voter approval.
The City of Phoenix refuses to regard illegal presence in the U.S.
as a serious crime and is known as one of the nation’s "sanctuary
cities.” The city’s Operations Order 1.4, supported by Mayor Phil
Gordon and the city council, literally ties the hands of patrol
officers from detaining and transferring illegal aliens to federal
immigration officers. Prop 405 is a citizen’s initiative intending
to restore the rule of law ignored by Governor Janet Napolitano,
Mayor Gordon and the city council.
Protect Our City is a citizens' initiative that will amend the
Phoenix city charter to require all officials, agencies and
personnel of the City of Phoenix, including the Phoenix Police
Department, to cooperate with and assist federal immigration
authorities in enforcing immigration laws within the boundaries of
the city. In addition, no official, personnel or agent of the City
of Phoenix will be prohibited or in any way restricted from
sending, receiving or maintaining, information regarding the
immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual, or
exchanging such information with any other federal, state or local
government entity.
Specifically, Prop 405 aims to:
Abolish Phoenix PD's current "sanctuary
order" Operations Order 1.4.3.
Enable City of Phoenix employees to
obtain and share legal or illegal immigration status with
federal, state or other local agencies in benefit eligibility
and identity or residence verification.
Begin a partnership between Phoenix PD
and federal Department of Homeland Security, training Phoenix PD
officers in immigration enforcement procedures.
End the "free pass" currently given illegal aliens by the
Phoenix PD.
Take into police custody for transfer to
federal immigration officers any illegal alien encountered by
Phoenix police in the normal course of law enforcement duties.
Hold illegal aliens accountable for ALL
their past offenses, just as is done with citizens and legal
residents. Current Phoenix city policy shields illegal aliens.
End assistance from the City of Phoenix
to illegal aliens evading immigration laws. Illegal presence in
the U.S. is a violation of U.S. laws, whether by illegal entry
or visa overstay. Illegal aliens will no longer be "aided and
abetted" by the City of Phoenix.
Prevent Phoenix from becoming a criminal
war zone like other "sanctuary cities."
End the policy of the City of Phoenix and
Phoenix PD that "we don't enforce immigration laws."
Backers of Prop 405 say the initiative
will not require:
Phoenix police to conduct immigration
raids.
Hospital staff to notify federal
immigration officials. Protect Our City affects only city
employees. Hospitals are privately-owned and its personnel are
not city employees.
School personnel to notify federal
immigration officials. School districts are totally separate
from the City; teachers and school district staff are not city
employees.
Allow illegal aliens to establish
Phoenix as a criminal center immune from law enforcement.
