Tucson accepts $4.2 million police grant, says it won't agree to federal immigration-data condition

Tucson accepts $4.2 million police grant, says it won't agree to federal immigration-data condition

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Tucson City Council on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, voted 6-0 to accept a $4.2 million U.S. Department of Justice grant for the Tucson Police Department. The vote came after a speaker objected to federal conditions tied to the money. City officials said Tucson is not accepting those conditions.

Council Member Paul Cunningham was absent and excused. Council Member Nikki Lee attended remotely.

The award comes from the Justice Department's fiscal 2026 Community Oriented Policing Services Technology and Equipment Program. It had been on the consent agenda but was pulled for separate discussion.

During the call to the audience, a speaker said she understood the grant carried a condition that would bar Tucson from prohibiting the sharing of immigration or citizenship data with the Department of Homeland Security. She said that if the city rejected the condition and later lost in court, it could still be required to hand over data. She also said she and many in the community opposed adding $4 million to law enforcement funding.

The award document, attached to the agenda item, includes that condition. Condition 2 requires compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1373, a federal law that says local governments may not restrict officials from sharing citizenship or immigration status information with the Department of Homeland Security.

City Manager Timothy Thomure said the money would replace existing police vehicles and motorcycles and would not pay for other technology. He said the city had requested the money from the federal government as member-directed funds for that purpose. The staff report for the item says the award will also buy a Mobile Command Unit, an addition to the fleet, for the department's Place-Network Investigation pilot. Thomure added that the city has been fighting the conditions attached to federal grants for two years.

City Attorney Roi Lusk said the city was aware of conditions two, three, four and 12 of the agreement. He said Tucson was accepting the agreement but not those conditions. With every such award, he said, the city files a supplemental statement noting that it is in active litigation with the federal government.

"So those conditions don't apply as part of our acceptance," Lusk said.

Besides the immigration condition, those are a civil rights certification that covers diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a requirement to follow all presidential memoranda and executive orders, and a clause on when the COPS Office may end funding.

Lusk rejected the claim that the city would have to comply if it lost in court. He said the city's acceptance states that the conditions, if later found enforceable, will not be applied retroactively. He said Tucson is party to four separate lawsuits against federal agencies over the same conditions, alongside jurisdictions including San Francisco, New York and Chicago. He said courts in every case have found the cities likely to prevail.

Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz asked whether the city could ever be forced to return the money. Lusk said no, because the city will already have performed under the conditions it accepted. He said Tucson has accepted dozens of federal grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the same cover letter.

Mayor Regina Romero said member-directed funds are chosen by members of Congress from requests the city submits. Rep. Juan Ciscomani's office listed $4.2 million for Tucson's police vehicles among the fiscal 2026 community projects it said it secured.

City workers press council on downtown parking costs

Three speakers, including city employees and a representative of Communications Workers of America members who work for the city, urged the council to address rising downtown parking costs.

The CWA representative said a private property owner recently raised the monthly price at a lot used mostly by city workers from $60 to $109 on three days' notice. She also raised safety concerns about employees walking alone before dawn or late at night. A city court employee said the downtown parking stipend, raised in June, often covers less than half of what employees pay, and that the alternative lots the city suggested filled up after the increase.

Tucson Daily Brief reported this week on a matching increase at 139 E. Toole Ave., a lot bought by Zeke Gebrekidane, who owns Zeke's Pizza & Coffee. He told Tucson Daily Brief that existing monthly customers park free through November and start paying Dec. 1 if they enroll with the operator by Nov. 30.

Thomure said the city is looking at ways to make cheaper garages more practical for workers at different downtown sites. He said the cost of working downtown is "fair game" for the coming budget discussion and will also come up in this year's memorandum of understanding negotiations with CWA.

As part of the consent agenda, the council adopted an ordinance codifying the $35-a-month downtown allowance already approved in the budget.

Up to $10 million in bonds approved to preserve 82 affordable units

The council voted 6-0 to approve the city's Industrial Development Authority issuing up to $10 million in multifamily housing revenue bonds for the Craycroft Towers and Lee Street duplexes project.

Council Member Miranda Schubert, who pulled the item for discussion, said the bonds will help rehabilitate and preserve 82 units of housing for older adults for at least 30 more years. Both properties previously operated as public housing. Under the city's 2023 public housing financial stability plan, they are being shifted to the Housing Choice Voucher program.

Schubert said the project is financed primarily through low-income housing tax credits, which require bond funding. It also draws on Community Development Block Grant money, HOME funds, a Pro Housing grant and public housing capital funds. Pima County has committed $500,000 in gap funding.

Schubert said preserving affordable housing almost always requires gap funding. She said that is why she is advocating for a preservation item in the Pima County bond process.

Romero said the project reflects reforms to the city's Industrial Development Authority that she began as a council member.

Lease approved for historic Fort Lowell Commissary

The council voted 6-0 to approve a lease with Seven Cities Coffee LLC, doing business as Exo Roast Co./Bar Crisol, for about 6,999 rentable square feet of the historic Fort Lowell Commissary at 5477 E. Fort Lowell Road.

Schubert pulled the item on behalf of Cunningham, whose ward includes the property. She said its preservation was funded by Arizona State Parks grants and the city's Tucson Delivers Parks and Connections bond package. She said the site is set to become an East Side destination for coffee and pastries, possibly with wine and live music later.

A representative of the business said the project had been in the works for three years. Schubert said a grand opening is expected early next year.

Consent agenda

The council approved the remaining consent items 6-0. They included:

• The 2027 meeting schedule.
• A grant-in-aid agreement with the Tohono O'odham Nation.
• An agreement for the city's Public Safety Communications Department to provide emergency dispatching for the University of Arizona's Physician One program.
• A two-year extension of the Tucson Airport Authority lease for the police Air Support Unit's helicopter hangar and offices at 6702 S. Plumer Ave.
• An affordable housing impact fee subsidy for a Pima County Community Land Trust home on Verdugo Street in the Barrio Kroeger Lane neighborhood.

Also discussed:

• Thomure said two Parks and Recreation employees on their way to a work assignment the morning of Nov. 3 came upon a house fire on Campbell Avenue. He said they called 911 and, with neighbors, helped three residents get out before firefighters arrived.
• Schubert reported traffic crashes since the council's last meeting. They included a crash Oct. 28 that killed a 39-year-old and one Oct. 29 that killed a 22-year-old driver. She noted city budget forums on transportation and road safety: a virtual session Nov. 9 from noon to 2 p.m., and a Ward 3 and Ward 6 session Nov. 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at El Rio Neighborhood Center.
• Schubert said the Rose Center, which offers showers, hygiene items, computer and phone access, and on-site service enrollment, is now open at the Ward 6 office from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays.
• An in-person open house on the Stone Avenue bus rapid transit project is set for Nov. 9 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Pima Community College's downtown campus. A virtual open house runs Nov. 9 through Dec. 9.
• The council forwarded two location transfers, one person-and-location transfer and nine special-event liquor license applications to the state liquor board with a recommendation of approval. The vote was by voice, without discussion. The person-and-location transfer, for Stone Easy at 123 S. Stone Ave., had drawn a written argument in opposition.
• The next regular meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at or after 5:30 p.m.

This report was drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 from a live transcript produced by Deepgram Nova-2, then reviewed and edited by Nicholas De Leon with Claude Opus 5.5, and published at 7:23 PM MST on November 4, 2026. Read more about how this is made.