![\"protesters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Protesters-GOP-ICE-Capitol.webp.png\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tProtesters hold anti-ICE signs at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 12, 2026.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tProtesters hold anti-ICE signs at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 12, 2026.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Joseph Darius Jaafari\/LOOKOUT<\/p>\n
This story<\/a>\u00a0was first published by\u00a0LOOKOUT<\/a>, an investigative nonprofit news organization covering Arizona\u2019s LGBTQ+ communities.<\/p>\n In a show of political force, counterprotesters opposing a planned announcement by the Pinal County attorney<\/a> to protect federal immigration officials disrupted a Republican press conference at the Arizona Capitol early Monday, forcing GOP lawmakers and supporters inside the Senate building on the first day of the legislative session.<\/p>\n Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller had planned to announce the support of a bill that would make obstructing the work of a federal immigration officer a felony. Miller\u2019s department has already worked alongside ICE law enforcement by expanding the agency\u2019s role in deportation efforts across Arizona via a 287(g) agreement at the\u00a0county jail since 2016<\/a>. In 2025, Miller signed\u00a0into another agreement in August last year<\/a>\u00a0with ICE that allows law enforcement to question and detain people who they suspect to be in the state illegally.<\/p>\n He was joined by Republican lawmakers Alex Kolodin, Matt Gress \u2014 the only openly gay Republican in the state Legislature \u2014 and John Gillette, who last year drew criticism for making racist and disparaging comments about people of color in an online post.<\/p>\n The counterprotest began about 30 minutes before the scheduled press conference and was partially organized by groups involved in recent large-scale demonstrations, including 50501 Arizona, which helped organize the No Kings rally at the Capitol and other cities statewide.<\/p>\n The crowd included a brass band, military veterans, faith leaders, political organizers and other activists and residents.<\/p>\n As protesters surrounded Republicans on the Senate lawn, Miller attempted to address reporters, but chanting and noise drowned out his remarks. The group eventually moved inside the Senate building, where protesters pressed against the windows, holding signs and chanting through bullhorns.<\/p>\n Inside, the press conference continued where Miller announced his support for a bill that would make it a felony to interfere with the work of any ICE officer in the process of their work.<\/p>\n \u201cICE is making Arizona safer,\u201d Miller said, pointing to street-level apprehensions against those who he said were all \u201cillegal aliens, many with prior records of sexual assault and illegal reentry.\u201d<\/p>\n Monday marked the opening day of the legislative session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters hold anti-ICE signs at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 12, 2026. Joseph Darius Jaafari\/LOOKOUT This story\u00a0was first…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":511869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,409,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-511868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-phoenix","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115884664180916090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}