‘For me, it’s blood money’

FLAGSTAFF – When Surprise residents gathered to protest a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in January, they joined many other  Arizonans publicly rallying against the expansion of ICE into their city this year. A host of new ICE facilities and offices have been announced throughout the state since the start of 2026, most recently in Flagstaff. 

Maria Castillo Rincon is a member of Keep Flagstaff Together and a 17-year resident of Flagstaff. Rincon became emotional as she discussed the conditions detainees are held in prior to deportation.

She was recently involved in a legal battle alongside the Florence Project to provide medical care to a detainee while in ICE custody.

“For me, it’s blood money,” Rincon said. “Because if they take a person that has a medical condition, they take them into this place where they’re going to hold him, or they take him to a detention center, and they die, whose fault is that because they’re not getting medical care?”

In response, lawmakers and community members have raised concerns about the expansion of and conditions inside  of ICE facilities  across Arizona. During a recent surprise visit to a short term facility at Mesa Gateway Airport, Arizona Democratic Reps. Greg Stanton, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva said they found the facility overcrowded.  

In an Instagram reel following the visit, Ansari characterized the facility as “unacceptable” and a “health and safety hazard” where detainees were packed into rooms designed for half the number of people held there. 

Ansari has conducted multiple oversight visits at ICE facilities in the past but said the conditions at the airport facility were the most inhumane she had seen.

ICE has other holding facilities located in Florence and Eloy, with a warehouse in Surprise being outfitted to hold 500 detainees. Flagstaff residents are also worried about a new ICE office opening, where detainees in northern Arizona would be held and the health toll it would take on immigrants – both physically and mentally.

As of March 26, ICE had detained over 2,500 individuals in Arizona, with 64% classified as non-criminals. In 2025 alone, ICE arrested over 8,400 individuals in Arizona. 

Before deportation, many immigrants are held at temporary facilities designed for 12-hour stays, but Rincon said some are held for weeks.

“They’re not going to have running water, they’re not going to have a toilet to use, they’re not going to have a place to sleep, more than likely, they’re not going to have a comfy, warm room to sleep,” Rincon said. “If the floor is cold, they’re probably not even going to have blankets.”

Those being detained are not the only people affected by an increased ICE presence. The new office set to open in Flagstaff is located a mile from the Northern Arizona University campus, leaving students worried how the federal presence will affect their mental health. 

Adam Pruzhanovsky, a second year student at NAU, said ICE can only bring harm.

“I think that it definitely is a detriment to social well-being. Not just like physical safety, obviously, but people aren’t going to want to go out, people aren’t going to want to do what they normally do, and that’s going to have a really bad impact on mental well-being,” Pruzhanovsky

Beyond mental health, Rincon said  ICE presence in Flagstaff would also affect people’s ability to access medical care. 

“Let’s say that they stop working because they’re afraid that they’re going to be detained at their job, then they’re going to stop working. They’re not going to have any income,” Rincon said. “They’re going to stop medicating. They’re going to stop accessing their medication. They can die, too.”

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