In the Arizona Senate, the walls can collapse to allow two committee hearing rooms to become one enormous hall.
On Friday, at the end of a contentious week of Republicans running veto-bait bills that attempt to pump even more power into ICE, lawmakers took the unusual step of collapsing the walls to accommodate the hundreds of Arizonans who showed up to oppose a bill that would require ICE to serve as security for November’s elections.
Using ICE to guard the polls isn’t even supported by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, who told Congress that “there’s no reason for us to deploy to a polling facility.”
Critics have noted that undocumented immigrants can’t vote and rarely try to vote, making the idea good for little more than intimidating brown voters afraid of being harassed or even arrested.
And anyway, the proposal goes against both federal and Arizona law, which limit law enforcement presence at polling places.
Hundreds look on during Friday’s Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee hearing.
The amendment to Senate Bill 1570 — proposed by Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman — was one of the 17 bills scheduled to be heard in a rare Friday meeting of the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee as lawmakers rushed toward a key deadline to advance more bills.
But Hoffman never showed up to testify. And as the six-hour meeting neared its end and hundreds waited for discussion on the controversial and likely illegal proposal, the committee chair, Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers, abruptly ended the meeting without considering it.
“(Hoffman’s) been ill off and on,” Rogers told the room. “I waited, hoping he could get here today and overcome that illness. But given the circumstances as they are, I have to defer to him, and I will hold SB1570. We are adjourned.”
A collective "boo" immediately erupted from the gallery. Expletives were hurled. Words like “shame” and “Gestapo” pinballed about the hall.
The anti-ICE activists had won — for the time being, at least.
Yet they were livid.
Why? Well, the burst of energy that was released had less to do with Republicans’ momentary retreat on the ICE at the polls proposal and more to do with the head games that had been going on in the days leading up to the hearing.
Two days prior, the same committee was set to consider SB1635, which would make it a class 1 misdemeanor to alert others about the presence and whereabouts of ICE.
During the hearing, there was quite a bit of confusion over the whereabouts of the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. John Kavanagh, who was slated to speak in favor of it. As it turned out, Kavanagh had ditched the committee to appear on a live radio talk show.
Rogers, unaware, could not provide guidance to committee members on whether the controversial bill would be heard. Democratic Sen. Analise Ortiz said in a social media post that her colleagues didn’t think they would be hearing the bill until Friday.
Then Rogers changed her mind.
“As soon as the committee room was cleared, Rogers decided to come back from recess,” Ortiz said. “She straight up lied to me about whether the bill would be heard and immediately, when the room was empty, she said, ‘we’re hearing SB1635.’”
Activists and lawyers rushed back in for a testy 30-minute discussion of the bill. At the climax of that debate, activists in the room stood and raised their fists — Rogers slammed her gavel repeatedly, and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Joe Kubacki and other security escorted the activists out of the building.
“No justice, no peace. No ICE on our streets,” the activists chanted on their way out.
The committee passed the bill along party lines. But on Friday, as people packed the Senate to oppose the ICE at the polls proposal, some of them were greeted at the door by Kubacki, who handed out envelopes containing these generic slips of paper:
It’s unclear how many people received them — but most of those who did were members of the nonprofit Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), a Latino-centered, social justice-focused political organizing group.
Former Democratic Sen. Raquel Terán — a LUCHA ally — called the trespass notices “bogus.”
“This is illegal. The way he was trying to identify what seemed to be LUCHA organizers and giving them the envelope,” she told us. “I don’t know how they even keep track of that.”
Kubacki told us he could not answer any questions about whether the Senate knew the names of the people they were trespassing or why there was no identifying information included in the slips. He referred all questions to the office of Senate President Warren Petersen.
Kim Quintero, the communications director for Senate Republicans, told us in a statement that several people had violated state law governing “disorderly conduct” inside legislative buildings. She said the rabble-rousers were informed of the violations and were asked to stop the prohibited behavior before trespass notices were issued.
“These actions were not directed at any organization or viewpoint,” she said in the statement. “They were based solely on documented conduct that violated established law and rules that apply equally to everyone in the Capitol. Claims that the LUCHA organization itself was trespassed are false. Members of LUCHA who complied with Capitol rules were not cited.”
This isn’t the first time Republicans have been quick to lash out and flex their narrowly maintained power during committee hearings. GOP Rep. Gail Griffin kicked Courthouse News reporter Joe Duhownik out of a House committee hearing on Feb. 12 for taking photos. Hoffman nearly kicked ASU student Leah Silverman out of a hearing for laughing while he read gay erotica aloud.
“They’re not even there to listen to their constituents, they’re just there to yell at them about dildos,” Silverman told the Capitol Times after the hearing.
Nor is it the first time that Republicans have barred folks from the Legislature. Labor organizer and activist Salvador Reza was banned from the Senate in 2011 — though four years later, a federal appeals court ruled that Republicans violated his First Amendment rights by barring him.
In last week’s case, it seems true that the conduct was indeed disorderly. But even so, handing out trespass notices without identifying information seems a bit bush-league — something that critics like LUCHA Executive Director Alejandra Gomez have been quick to point out.
“They are being threatened with arrest without a clear explanation, without due process, and without any information about how to appeal the ban,” Gomez said. “All of the community members receiving these notices report that officials did not even know their names.”
This tension was blowing up like a balloon in the Senate on Friday morning and afternoon as Rogers prepared to hear the ICE at the polls bill — but it ultimately popped as Republicans backed off the controversial measure.
Kubacki, Ortiz and Kuby listening to religious leaders after the hearing.
After GOP lawmakers left the room, Ortiz and Democratic Sen. Lauren Kuby stuck around and listened as several religious leaders and community members gave speeches that they had already prepared against the bill and ICE.
“This bill would place armed federal agents at every polling place in Arizona for one reason: to make certain Americans — naturalized citizens, people born here, families of mixed status, and Black and brown voters — afraid to walk through the doors,” Rev. Eric Ledermann said. “Research shows that 31% of Hispanic-American citizens already fear being questioned at the polls, despite having every right to vote. Because that’s the point, isn’t it?”
It was on that strange note — Republicans on the retreat and a large anti-ICE coalition making themselves at home in the hearing room — that lawmakers ended a six-week slog of committee meetings and moved into the next phase of the session.
Crossover week starts today, meaning bills that have not passed their assigned committees — including the ICE at the polls bill — are effectively dead.
Well, sort of. Lawmakers can always use a “striker” bill to swap new language into a bill that’s already passed and circumvent their own deadlines.
Crossover week also means that the primary venue of political theater shifts from hearing panels, where the public is ostensibly invited to testify about legislation, to the House and Senate floor, where only lawmakers can speak.
Tariff tantrum: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs after a coalition of attorneys general, including AG Kris Mayes, sued. Mayes and other Democratic officials were quick to celebrate the 6-3 decision from the majority-Republican court, with Mayes calling the tariffs “an illegal tax on American families and businesses.” But Trump was just as quick to say he’d impose a new set of tariffs, while ranting about “unpatriotic” Supreme Court justices who had been “swayed by foreign interests.”
You had your chance: After more than a decade of Arizona Department of Corrections officials failing to provide adequate healthcare to inmates, a federal judge appointed a court-controlled receiver to run healthcare in the state’s prison system, per the Republic’s Miguel Torres.
“(A)fter nearly 14 years of litigation with Defendants having not gained compliance, or even a semblance of compliance with the Injunction and the Constitution, this approach has not only failed completely, but, if continued, would be nothing short of judicial indulgence of deeply entrenched unconstitutional conduct,” the order read.
One big slush fund: Yet again, former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s penchant for using campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle is raising legal questions. This time, a watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission alleging Sinema illegally used $700,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses after she left the Senate, the Arizona Mirror’s Jim Small reports. The spending cited by the Campaign Legal Center included travel, lodging and meals that were unrelated to any type of political activity. Federal records show Sinema’s campaign had $4.2 million in January 2025. All that money was gone by the end of last month.
This is about the millionth example of why it’s better to give money to local news outlets than to politicians.
Taking matters into their own hands: The FBI is investigating an arson attack on the warehouse in Surprise that ICE officials plan to turn into a 1,500-bed immigration detention center, the Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy reports. The attack involved someone breaking a window, lighting a fire and throwing a propane tank into the building. The warehouse is one of at least 20 across the country that ICE is turning into massive detention centers, often by using military contracts that allow for more secrecy and without letting local officials know beforehand, including officials in Surprise who are demanding answers from federal officials, the Associated Press reports.
‘Tis the season: Now that the GOP-controlled Legislature is sending bills to Gov. Katie Hobbs, veto season has begun in earnest. Hobbs vetoed nine bills on Friday, including one that would have required hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status and another bill that would have required more stringent scrutiny of people who use food stamps, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. So far, Hobbs has vetoed 11 bills. She set a record last year with 178 vetoes.
In other, other news
Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman’s political backers at Turning Point USA stand to gain from a license plate bill he’s championing (Caitlin Sievers / Arizona Mirror) … President Donald Trump thinks the news media should move on from the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson (Arizona Daily Star) … Six child welfare bills, including some that would help foster kids and those in group homes, made it through the Arizona House Government Committee (Melissa Blasius / ABC15) … A bill to protect Arizonans from “deed fraud” is getting bipartisan support at the Legislature (Kevin Reagan / 12News) … And a legal battle is unfolding after a Circle K manager clocked out and had an employee sell him an unsold lottery ticket worth $12.8 million from the day before (Zach Buchanan / Phoenix New Times).
Arizona Traveling Museum is a mobile exhibition touring all 15 Arizona counties beginning February 14, 2026, in Prescott on Statehood Day.
Designed to make America’s 250th anniversary accessible to every Arizonan, the custom-built mobile museum brings history, storytelling, and civic reflection directly to cities, towns, and rural communities across the state.
The exhibit blends defining moments in American history with Arizona’s unique story through immersive panels, a short looping video experience, and interactive activations for all ages.
Visitors are invited to participate in the Dear America, Love Arizona postcard activity, sharing their reflections on our nation’s past and future.
A centerpiece of the traveling museum is a replica Liberty Bell from the Arizona State Capitol, offering a rare opportunity to experience this powerful symbol of freedom and civic responsibility up close.
Admission is free thanks to generous community support.
We’re not against using AI to write all the junk that reporters don’t want to write — like social media posts.
But, uhhh, someone should remind the Arizona Daily Star to cut out the helpful intern’s responses to their prompts.
Remember when copy editors were a thing? Those were the days.
