A private security guard called Phoenix police on an immigrant-rights group handing out information at a federal immigration court in Phoenix, but officers declined to remove the activists, who argued they are engaging in constitutionally protected speech.<\/p>\n
For months, volunteers have handed out small red cards to individuals who show up for their scheduled court date at the Phoenix Immigration Court, which is located within a private office complex in downtown Phoenix.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe give people \u2018know your rights\u2019 cards so that they are aware of the rights they have in the United States, and then we go and silently observe the court cases,\u201d said Beth Strano, executive director of the Borderlands Resource Initiative.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, volunteers were handing out those cards in a hallway where people wait in line to enter the court when a security guard at the Madison Square office complex told them they had to leave, Strano said.<\/p>\n
The security guard did not call police after that incident, and volunteers returned later in the day to resume distributing information.<\/p>\n
However, on Thursday morning, the security guard called Phoenix police to ask that Strano be removed from the property.<\/p>\n
That came after the building management replaced signs prohibiting loitering with signs stating people could not distribute \u201chandbills\u201d in the building.<\/p>\n
The city of Phoenix prohibits the distribution of \u201cany commercial or noncommercial handbill\u2019 on private property when there is a sign posted. The city code defines a noncommercial handbill as \u201cany printed or written matter, any sample or other device, circular, leaflet, pamphlet, newspaper, magazine, paper, booklet or any other printed or otherwise reproduced original or copies of any matter of literature not included in the definition of a commercial handbill.\u201d <\/p>\n
But, after some deliberation, officers determined that the group could remain on site as long as they don\u2019t wander around other parts of the private building or hand out information in the outside areas of the office complex, which also houses the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Arizona Commerce Authority.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re in line \u2026 obviously official business, but don\u2019t be wandering around the open area out there,\u201d Detective Mike Hillman told Strano.<\/p>\n
Strano said she did not believe the information cards qualified as \u201chandbills.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is protected speech around giving people \u2018know your rights\u2019 information, but we’re very careful not to cross the lines of what would be disruptive at all to the space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time security officers at the building have tried to remove protesters and activists.<\/p>\n
In late May, security personnel and police officers warned journalists, protesters and activists they could be arrested for trespassing after they gathered at the office complex in response to reports that federal immigration agents were arresting people following their court hearings, the Arizona Republic reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n ACLU Arizona later sent a cease-and-desist letter to Transwestern, the property manager, demanding they stop attempting to remove those people.<\/p>\n \u201cHere, your office and city police have unquestionably retaliated against protestors and advocates in violation of their constitutional rights,\u201d according to the June 25 letter. \u201cPolitical expression, including protesting ICE\u2019s courthouse arrests and the dissemination of Know-Your-Rights pamphlets, is protected speech and expression under the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n