A 17-year-old high school student in Surprise is now as unlikely a character in a nationwide drama as the “wine moms” who took to the streets of Minneapolis to film ICE agents and protect their immigrant neighbors.
Cali Overs, a senior at Dysart High School, is trying to stop ICE from setting up a detention center within walking distance of her school. She’s frequenting city council meetings, contacting elected officials and putting into practice pretty much everything she learned in her government class, and then some.
In Surprise, she’s trying to shed light on the risks the detention center could pose for her fellow students, nearly two-thirds of whom are Latino.
But she’s also aiming higher: Getting Congress to stop the Trump administration from building its $38 billion network of immigration detention centers near any K-12 school in the country.
Overs speaks at the February 17 meeting of the Surprise City Council.
So far, the Trump administration’s modus operandi is to buy up warehouses without letting local officials know beforehand. That inevitably leads to a backlash from residents who don’t want to be part of Trump’s mass deportation program, or simply would like a heads-up when something of this magnitude is about to happen near their home.
The detention center planned for the Surprise warehouse would be a short-term processing site that could hold hundreds of immigrants before they are transferred to long-term detention centers out of state.
City officials say they can’t do much to stop it.
Overs, who’s also the student council vice president at Dysart High School, isn’t accepting that.
Her efforts have received mixed reactions.
We spoke to Overs about what she’s hoping to accomplish, why her plight matters and how grownups are the worst.
The following was lightly edited for clarity and concision.
There has been quite a bit of opposition to turning this building into an ICE processing site. What scares you the most about having this so close to your school?
We don’t have buses or bus transportation for students within two miles of any of the schools in the district, so students would have to be walking down Dysart Road, the street the ICE detention center is on. Obviously, there’s going to be heavy traffic, protests … stuff like that.
My second biggest concern is racial profiling. The majority of the students in my school are Hispanic.
What are the other students at your school saying about this?
A lot of them are scared. Some of them have gone online already.
Meaning they switched from in-person school to online learning?
Yeah. I keep telling people, students shouldn’t have to go online out of fear and burden their own education because the federal government is burdening them.
The detention center has received a decent amount of press. What brought it to your attention?
Me and a couple of other student council members were on our bus to the annual state convention. The student body president, Dana, saw the headline on the news. She told us about it. It turned into a tense environment and we just didn’t really talk about it. We went silent.
What prompted you to be like, “Okay, I’ve got to do something about this”?
I went to the Surprise City Council meeting after we came back from our trip. I expected something to be done by someone. The city council can’t do anything, but they can still speak out about it, which they hadn’t at that point.
The next council meeting, I came back saying that I’m disappointed in everyone, especially my school district and my principals, because they won’t say anything. I didn’t ask for a political statement from (school officials). I just asked for something that was reminding students of their rights, because ICE activity has increased in the area.
The second city council meeting was close to Valentine’s Day. My school had posted something saying that we can’t bring like teddy bears or flowers or anything, because they are dangers to campus. Part of my email to my principal was like, ‘you’re posting these things saying it’s dangerous to the campus, but then you’re ignoring a real situation.’
Tell me about the elected officials you’ve talked to so far.
I’ve talked to (U.S. Sen. Ruben) Gallego’s office and (U.S. Sen. Mark) Kelly’s office. I’m still in contact with Gallego’s office. They’ve been helping and guiding me through a lot. I have a meeting with the mayor on Wednesday.
I’ve emailed all of the council members. Only three of them emailed back. I had a meeting with them last Thursday, with my student body president. I’ve also been talking to (Arizona Attorney General) Kris Mayes.
I saw a description of what happened at Gosar’s office in your change.org petition.
I told (Gosar’s assistant) that students are gonna have to walk by protests for school, and we’ve already seen what’s going on in Minneapolis. She told me that we don’t behave like Minneapolis.
She told me, ‘We have to accommodate our lives to this. We have to accept it, because it’s not going away.’
I felt like she tried to turn it into an immigration debate. I asked for a follow up. They never replied.
A map Overs used in her change.org petition.
Do you feel like the people in power, in general – the “grownups,” so to speak – have been respectful to you and willing to listen to your concerns?
I think the people who have been taking this more seriously are the council members that I’ve talked to, because it’s in their city. They understand it on a personal level. And then Gallego’s office, and Kris Mayes.
You’ve been the target of some bullying on social media. I believe you told me you were actually threatened by someone on the mayor’s Facebook page.
I don’t find it funny, but it’s laughable.
Like, eye-roll-inducing?
Yeah. It’s so pathetic to see people taking the time to bully a child. The people who actually oppose the facility are giving up their Tuesday nights every two weeks to go speak (at city council meetings) and actually taking the time to stand for what they believe in, rather than the people in Facebook comments who we don’t know if they’re just trolls.
What has disappointed you the most about all of this?
That a 17-year-old is having to do this and speak out for students, rather than my district or school principals. I’m proud to be doing this, and proud to be able to stand up. But I mean, they know that a 17-year-old is giving up a lot of their time to help students.
That’s their job. They’re being paid for that.
What do you think is the worst-case scenario, if the ICE facility near your school moves forward?
We’ve seen what’s going on in Minneapolis. That’s my biggest fear, for Surprise to turn into the next Minneapolis.
Surprise is such a family-oriented city that was focused on parks, schools, family stuff. This has divided our community so much.
What’s your end game?
I’m asking for a three-mile buffer zone so that ICE detention centers anywhere in the nation can’t be within three miles of any K-12 schools.
I don’t think any prison should be close to a school like that, no matter who is in it or who is running it. Unrealistically, I don’t think prisons or ICE detention centers should be within city limits at all.
My solution is to get this as far away from schools as possible, because it does disrupt the community – but the community doesn’t get any input.
Heap 🤝 DOJ: New records show Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap corresponded with the U.S. Department of Justice during its investigation into Arizona elections last year, Votebeat’s Sasha Hupka reports. Heap assured a DOJ official that his office “is committed to full cooperation,” and he met with Arizona’s top federal prosecutor shortly before the DOJ notified the county it was launching a probe into past elections.
Schweikert stands by it: Republican U.S. Rep. David Schweikert says he has no regrets about sending mailers accusing fellow Republican and gubernatorial hopeful Andy Biggs of white supremacy and antisemitism, KJZZ’s Ben Giles reports.
“Heaven forbid we were to lose again, or lose the state Legislature, because we nominated a candidate that’s unelectable,” Schweikert said.
Blind eye: The Arizona State Board of Education passed on investigating a parent’s complaint that Peoria Unified officials knew about a years-long sexual relationship between two teachers and a student but failed to report it, the Republic’s Hannah Dreyfus reports. The board said administrators responded in a timely manner, even though police and school records show no evidence that a report was made. Under Arizona law, school administrators are required to report suspected sexual misconduct, and Peoria principals were alerted to the behavior in a tip from another student.
Nobody reads the Constitution:1 Republican Rep. David Marshall got appointed as the new Navajo County recorder, per Hupka. It’s a job he is not legally eligible to hold, as we noted in a footnote a few weeks ago when he first applied to replace former Navajo County Recorder Timothy Jordan, who resigned after pulling a gun on two kids and lying to police about it. The Arizona Constitution clearly states that, ”No member of the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed shall be eligible to hold any other office or be otherwise employed by the state of Arizona or any county.”
Michael Crow births a news org: ASU launched a new media organization called The Beam that focuses on education issues and “investigates how powerful institutions shape everyday life.” The new venture, which is funded by the Scripps Howard Foundation, has a small staff of veteran journalists (including our old friend Evan Wyloge!) and is powered by students. It launched yesterday with a story about 3D printed weapons in schools, and a ChatGPT bot that scrapes school board meeting transcripts and allows users to chat about them.
The more the merrier! But don’t forget about us journalists who don’t have Michael Crow’s blessing.
Watch out for ICE: After getting busted for using Mexican license plates to disguise unmarked police vehicles, the Phoenix Police Department said it won’t do that anymore, 12News’ Kevin Reagan reports. Police officials said they understood the “concern and confusion” among city residents, “especially at a time when many residents are already feeling heightened anxiety about the presence of outside law enforcement agencies.”
It looks like former California Congressman and gubernatorial contender Eric Swalwell’s troubles are over, but Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego’s troubles are just beginning.
Swalwell announced that he was going to resign after he was accused of sexual assault by a former staffer.
That left Gallego, his longtime friend who initially defended Swalwell but then called for him to resign, answering tough questions from the press yesterday, while also fending off rumors that he might not be the nicest guy in the world.
Internet sleuths and journalists everywhere are poking into their friendship, and trying to ascertain whether Gallego was party to any of the creepy shit going on.
Now, Gallego is trying to convince the public that he was somehow a victim in all this.
Gallego said Swalwell helped him get through a “bruising” political campaign which led him to trust Swalwell.
“He knew how to prey on that,” Gallego said. “I was a loyal friend to someone that was just not loyal to me.”
Also, there’s a new Kalshi prediction market that you may wanna get in on.
Just sayin…
1 Also, clearly nobody reads the footnotes.