Via – Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — After Arizona passed a law that required local police to check the immigration status of people suspected to be in the country illegally, the state’s second-largest city wanted to send a message.

The Democrats who control Tucson designated their town an “immigrant welcoming city” in 2012, and the police department adopted rules limiting when officers can ask about the immigration status of people they encounter.

But on Tuesday, given the chance to push the envelope further, the heavily Democratic city voted overwhelmingly not to become an official “sanctuary city” with more restrictions on how and when police officers can enforce immigration laws.

The incongruous result followed a contentious disagreement that divided progressives between those eager to stand up for immigrants and against President Donald Trump, and those who said the initiative would bring nothing more than unintended consequences.

“The city of Tucson, in all respects except being labeled as such, operates as a sanctuary city,” Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said in an interview before the vote.

The sanctuary initiative, he argued, would have tied the hands of police even on matters unrelated to immigration while inviting expensive retaliation from the Trump administration and Republicans in the state Legislature.

The Trump administration has fought sanctuary cities and tried to restrict their access to federal grants. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in June that the Trump administration could consider cities’ willingness to cooperate in immigration enforcement when doling out law enforcement money.

Tucson has a deep history welcoming immigrants. It’s widely credited as the birthplace of the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s, an effort by churches to help refugees from Central America and shield them form deportation.

The ballot measure was pushed by activists who wanted to give a voice to Tucson’s Latino community. They said it would have sent the message that immigrants are safe and protected in Tucson at a time when many are fearful of Trump’s immigration policies.

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