(PHOENIX) New permanent police chief Matt Giordano on Aug. 13, 2025, drew a hard line between local policing and federal immigration enforcement, saying the Phoenix Police Department will not assist ICE in immigration actions. “We don’t ask for your immigration status. We quite frankly don’t care about your immigration status,” he said at his first major news conference. He added that while the department may be aware of planned ICE activity for safety reasons, “we do not help them.”
Giordano said the department’s job is city safety, not immigration law, and called trust the foundation of that work. If people fear calling 911 because of status, he said, then policing has failed them. On Aug. 14, he reaffirmed that stance, saying immigration enforcement “has no place in city policing.”
The announcement comes after months of pressure from immigrant families and advocates who warned that confusion around police-ICE contact chilled crime reporting.
Context and community concerns
The chief’s remarks addressed claims from immigration advocates who said officers had asked them to move away from the Phoenix Immigration Court during arrests nearby. In May 2025, the ACLU of Arizona filed public records requests seeking details on any coordination between the Phoenix Police Department and ICE, after community volunteers reported being told to leave the area as immigration arrests unfolded.
Giordano said he supports transparency and wants the department to be “an open book,” while stressing that officers do not take part in civil immigration enforcement.
“We don’t ask for your immigration status. We quite frankly don’t care about your immigration status.”
Policy stance and immediate impact
Under Giordano, the department’s policy is direct and clear:
- PPD does not participate in federal immigration enforcement.
- Officers do not ask for immigration status during routine calls, stops, or reports.
- PPD may receive notice of some ICE operations to be ready for 911 calls or emergencies, but it does not provide operational support, conduct joint raids, or assist with arrests tied to immigration status.
- The chief has pledged openness about contacts with federal agencies.
For immigrants and mixed-status families, this message is intended to lower fear and encourage reporting. Examples of actions the policy seeks to protect:
- A parent calling for help after a break-in.
- A worker reporting wage theft.
- A teenager speaking to an officer after a car crash.
In each case, officers should focus on safety and crime, not civil status. That’s the promise the chief placed on the record: city safety first, and no “show me your papers” stops.
Recent civic action and petitions
The comments follow a June 17 City Council meeting where a citizen petition organized by Poder in Action asked for deeper changes. The petition urged the city to:
- End certain traffic stops,
- Stop enforcing some minor offenses,
- Release people cited for nonviolent crimes.
City staff recommended denying the petition, pointing to reforms already underway. Councilwoman Anna Hernandez backed the petition, saying more steps are needed to protect undocumented residents and keep families from withdrawing from public life.
Advocates argue officer presence near immigration courts can blur the line, even if police don’t make immigration arrests. Groups like the ACLU of Arizona, Our Thriving Arizona, and Poder in Action have held know-your-rights events outside hearings to warn families about possible arrests after case dismissals. Some volunteers say they faced trespassing threats when standing near building entrances. Those incidents are now part of records requests seeking logs, emails, and policies that might show how the department handled those scenes.
Oversight, operations, and the SB 1070 legacy
Arizona’s SB 1070, passed in 2010, allowed officers to ask about status during stops and sparked fear. Giordano, who served during that era, cited the law’s damage to trust in explaining his current approach. He said people should not fear that a traffic stop will turn into an immigration check.
Community leaders, including Ricardo Reyes of Vets Forward, pressed the same point, urging the chief to keep the focus on safety rather than helping ICE.
Typical process when ICE runs an operation in Phoenix
- Notification: ICE may notify PPD in advance for awareness, so the city can handle any spillover calls and ensure public safety near the site.
- PPD role: Officers remain limited in role — they do not join immigration arrests, do not staff joint task forces for status-based actions, and do not run checkpoints for immigration.
- Community presence: Advocacy groups may gather to observe, offer information, and support families. PPD may be present only to keep public order and respond to unrelated emergencies.
- Post-operation oversight: Records requests and community oversight continue after operations to confirm the department’s actions matched its policy.
For official information about the federal agency’s mission and authority, readers can consult ICE at https://www.ice.gov. The federal guidance governs where and how federal officers act; the city’s policy, set by the chief, governs what Phoenix officers will or will not do.
Records requests and possible outcomes
The ACLU’s pending requests seek to confirm what the chief has now said in public: the Phoenix Police Department does not ask about status and does not help with civil immigration arrests. Advocates say:
- If documents show something different, they will push for formal changes at the council level.
- If records align with the chief’s statements, they plan to ask that the policy be written more clearly, trained citywide, and posted in plain language for families.
Giordano promised more daylight on these issues, saying the department will work to release information faster and answer residents’ questions about mixed messages.
What the chief says will change in practice
Giordano said the department will:
- Explain when police are near courthouses, what they are doing, and what they are not doing.
- Be more transparent about contacts with federal agencies.
- Continue to answer 911 and keep the peace during tense moments near ICE activity, but not be part of arrests based on civil status.
After years of community strain, the chief argued that small steps like clearer communication can shape whether a victim calls for help or stays silent.
The political and community arena ahead
City Hall remains an arena for debate. Council members are weighing whether to press for stricter rules on traffic stops and low-level offenses, given the risk that a stop can ripple into jail and then, for some, into immigration detention.
- Supporters of reforms argue fewer minor arrests mean fewer handoffs to systems that could expose status.
- Critics say police need tools to keep streets safe and that reforms already in place are working.
As organizers continue weekly events outside the immigration court, the test for the chief is consistency. Families will judge the department by what officers do on sidewalks and in squad cars, not just by what a chief says at a podium.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, readers seeking broader national context on local-federal cooperation can find reporting that tracks similar debates in other U.S. cities.
Giordano has taken his stand early in his tenure and tied it to a simple line: Phoenix officers work for city safety, not for federal immigration goals. For many families who remember SB 1070, that distinction is more than a policy note — it’s a test of whether calling the police feels safe again.
This Article in a Nutshell
New Phoenix Chief Matt Giordano declared on Aug. 13, 2025, that PPD separates city policing from ICE enforcement. He vowed officers won’t ask immigration status and won’t assist ICE operations, aiming to rebuild trust and encourage 911 reporting among immigrant and mixed-status communities across Phoenix neighborhoods.
