Key Points:

• Ramping up federal immigration activity prompts reaction and protest in Arizona Senate

• Sen. Catherine Miranda shared personal fears, saying she now carries proof of citizenship 

• Pending GOP legislation would require federal notification of immigration status during arrest

A duly-elected, sitting Arizona state senator now carries identification papers in her car in case she’s stopped by federal immigration agents. 

That’s from Sen. Catherine Miranda, D-Laveen, who said she has kept her birth certificate, Social Security card and passport in a baggie in her car since the moment her daughter came to her, upset about the enforcement, asking what to do. 

“I kept my senator hat on and my mother’s hat on at the same time, and you have to ask yourself, what do you tell your child when they ask that?” Miranda said. “We shouldn’t have to do this. I’m sorry I have to tell you this, but carry your documents, carry my card and just stay aware of your surroundings.”

Miranda decided she would do the same, she said, though not out of fear, but because she felt compelled to speak out against the “silliness” of what she believed to be a failure of checks and balances within the federal government. 

All of that came during a Jan. 26 Senate Committee on Military Affairs and Border Security meeting, which unexpectedly overheated when protestors interrupted Sen. Wendy Rogers and Sen. Janae Shamp’s explanation of their yes votes on Senate Bill 1055. That bill, filed by Rogers, R-Flagstaff, would require law enforcement officials to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Patrol of a person’s immigration status if they are arrested. 

Several people were told to leave by security after they blew whistles and shouted at senators during the discussion. Others also left the room, but many people walked down the halls of the Senate yelling, “Shame!”

The outburst comes after weeks of protest across the country against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including two U.S. citizens killed in Minneapolis, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. 

Recently, Arizona has seen an increase in activity by federal agents. Sen. Lauren Kuby and Rep. Brian Garcia, both Democrats, said they were pepper-sprayed by Department of Homeland Security agents in Phoenix. Last month in Tucson, U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., said she was also hit with pepper spray during a protest. 

Another reason Miranda carries her papers is to help future court cases addressing misconduct and the “unhinged activities” underway, she added. 

“There’s absolutely no rules anymore, so we are in survival mode and at the same time remaining with common sense in such a horrific atmosphere that we’re in,” Miranda said. 

She encouraged her community members to do the same. First and foremost, she urged people to be safe and don’t resist, especially after the events in Minneapolis and in addition to people sustaining injuries during protests and clashes with federal agents. 

She also encouraged people to carry their identification because they don’t know which kind of federal agent might approach them. It could be someone who looks at the papers and accepts them, or someone who doesn’t care and the papers mean nothing to them, she said. 

“Know your rights and try to record,” she said. “Just make the best choices, the best decisions that you can. Recording, carrying your papers and stay peaceful.”

Miranda also pushed back on Shamp’s statement about Laken Riley during the committee meeting. Shamp, a Republican who represents Surprise, brought up Riley’s death and asked if anyone cared about her. 

Riley was a 22-year-old college student who attended nursing school in Georgia. She was killed by Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old undocumented migrant from Venezuela. Ibarra was found guilty and convicted of 10 charges, including murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape and tampering with evidence. 

A law called the Laken Riley Act now requires the federal government to detain undocumented people who are charged, convicted or arrested for a crime. 

“All of our hearts go out to what happened to that young girl, and that’s the criminal we’re supposed to go after,” she said. “I’m just tired of them throwing that incident at us to paint all immigrants at that level of crime.”

The goal is to catch that kind of criminal, not the workers, not people working in restaurants that feed us and not the ones that are in line in the process of the courts doing the right thing, she added.