Surprise leaders misled public about meeting with senators over ICE facility

Cali Overs

Submitted photo/Cali Overs

OPINION — On June 29, Sen. Ruben Gallego, his staff and Sen. Mark Kelly’s staff met with me and other former Dysart High Student Council members at the warehouse proposed for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

They wanted to hear about safety concerns and fears students have with it opening near our schools.

I’ve been communicating with both senators’ offices since March because Surprise and the school district are unprepared for the problems this will bring to students. We were extremely grateful they took our concerns seriously enough to meet with us before talking to the Surprise mayor and City Council.

What happened next is exactly why young people don’t trust politicians. I believe the way Mayor Kevin Sartor presented this meeting to the public is very misleading. He posted a photo and caption that made it look like this was a meeting with just him, Sen. Gallego and Sen. Kelly’s staff. You would never know the entire City Council was also in the room. Vice Mayor Earle Greenberg, Chris Judd, Jack Hastings, Johnny Melton, Patrick Duffy and Nick Haney were all there.

None of the council members posted about the meeting. Neither did Surprise’s official page. It’s like they don’t want residents to know this meeting ever happened. Why?

Why did the mayor exclude any mention of the City Council? Why didn’t any of the council members or the city post about this meeting? We deserve the truth from them.

A sitting U.S. Senator and his congressional staff didn’t travel here just to talk to Mayor Sartor about the “opportunities facing Surprise.”

We have a right to know who was in this meeting, what the purpose was and what was discussed. Right now, it looks like the city is being dishonest and hiding something from the community.

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