LUCHA Condemns Passage of SB 1610, Urges Governor Hobbs to Veto This Dangerous Attack on Due Process and Human Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

April 27, 2025

Contact: press@luchaaz.org

PHOENIX — Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) strongly condemns the passage of SB 1610, a reckless bill that significantly undermines fundamental constitutional due process protections for all Arizonans. By mandating that county jails immediately share identifying information of every arrested individual with federal immigration authorities, regardless of the individual's citizenship or the nature of their alleged offense, this legislation erodes crucial legal safeguards and opens the door to wrongful detention and serious civil liberties violations.  

This bill directly threatens the constitutional rights of every person in Arizona. The automatic sharing of information mandated by SB 1610 could result in individuals being a wrongfully targeted, detained, or even deported without proper judicial oversight or the chance to contest charges or accusations placed against them in a court of law regardless of whether that individual has committed any crime, has legal status, or is a U.S. citizen.  

LUCHA is calling on Governor Katie Hobbs to veto SB 1610 and send a clear message that Arizona will not abandon basic constitutional protections or allow political fearmongering to override human rights.

“SB 1610 is not just an attack on immigrants—it’s an attack on the due process rights of all Arizonans,” said Alejandra Gomez, Executive Director of LUCHA. “This bill moves us dangerously closer to a system where being suspected of wrongdoing based on appearance, accent, or last name is enough to end up detained, deported, or disappeared—without a fair hearing, without legal protections, and without justice.”

Recent events, such as the wrongful detention of José Hermosillo, a U.S. citizen from New Mexico detained by federal agents while visiting family in Tucson, and another shocking incident, the illegal deportation of a two-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras, highlight deeply troubling violations of due process. SB 1610 risks similar injustices at the state level by dangerously blurring the lines between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, opening the door to potential abuses and wrongful detentions of all Arizonans. 

The stakes are clear:

• Due process protections for immigrants are already under attack.

• SB 1610 further erodes those protections and threatens every American’s right to fair treatment under the law.

• If constitutional rights can be stripped away from one group, they can be stripped away from all of us.

LUCHA urges Governor Katie Hobbs to veto SB 1610 to uphold the fundamental constitutional protections that define our democracy. Due process is not a partisan issue, it is essential to the integrity of our civil rights and fairness for every Arizonan. 

“When due process dies for one group, it dies for us all,” Gomez said. “Governor Hobbs must veto SB 1610 to uphold the fundamental rights that make our state—and our democracy—worth fighting for. Signing this legislation would not only codify cruelty into law—it would accelerate Arizona’s slide into authoritarianism.”

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