Legal experts are concerned over Attorney General Pam Bondi’s pick for Interim Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
The Justice Department (DOJ) announced the swearing in of Timothy Courchaine on Monday, effectively opting for an internal promotion to the assistant U.S. attorney of nearly five years rather than bringing in new leadership. Bondi appointed Courchaine last week.
The appointment came shortly after the termination of the former U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino, appointed to the position by President Joe Biden in November 2021. Restaino’s term earned a general reputation for not accomplishing as much as possible.
An insider at the Arizona legislature expressed concern to AZ Free News that this selection would continue the status quo within the legal world, not prompt greater activity or usher in the desired overhaul of an office scrutinized for its caseload in recent years.
“The U.S. attorney’s office here in Arizona has earned a reputation for being ineffective and deliberately so. You cannot clean it up from the inside. You must have someone come in and see just what a mess it is,” said the source. “Anyone who has been on the inside and who has not publicly come forward to talk about what a disaster it is does not deserve to lead the place.”
Cleaning house within the DOJ was one of the clear mandates set forth by President Donald Trump.
“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before,” posted Trump on TruthSocial. “Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ‘Biden Era’ U.S. Attorneys. We must ‘clean house’ immediately, and restore confidence. America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System — THAT BEGINS TODAY!”
POTUS just ordered the firing of all remaining Biden US attorneys. That is exactly what needed to be done, and it has been done by past administrations. These are presidential appointees, and in Biden's case, he chose the most radical, political US attorneys in my lifetime.… pic.twitter.com/YafmHz4Pbm
Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Courchaine clerked for Arizona Supreme Court Justice William Montgomery. Courchaine began his career with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office back in 2015 as a special projects manager prior to joining the Marine Corps as a judge advocate and attaining the rank of captain. Courchaine was also a Blackstone Legal Fellow for the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence before clerking for Biola University’s Office of General Counsel.
As the interim Arizona district attorney, Courchaine supervises prosecution of all federal crimes and litigation of all civil matters in which the U.S. has an interest. The DOJ reported that Courchaine leads a staff of about 350 prosecutors, civil litigators, and support personnel across the state. The office also handles one of the larger Indian Country dockets in the nation, serving as the felony prosecutor for nearly all the 22 federally recognized tribes within the state.
The DOJ also credited Courchaine with the handling of cases concerning border crimes and Mexican-based cartels.
Per reporting from the Arizona Daily Independent, potential appointees to the permanent slot include Tim La Sota, Dennis Wilinchek, Jennifer Wright, Anthony Martin, James Rogers, and potentially former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould.
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Major cities nationwide resounded with this chant in the weeks following President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Pro-illegal immigration activists took over the streets with protests bordering on riots and engaged in coordination efforts to thwart deportations.
Younger grassroots activists, like those with the local Party For Socialism and Liberation or the MECHA chapters, bolstered their numbers with members of the most well-funded leftist activist operations in the state.
Anti-ICE protesters shut down traffic in Phoenix, AZ while waving foreign flags and signs saying we’re on stolen land.
These activist operations are nonprofits financed, in large part, by the wealthiest leftist donors in the nation—especially those dealing in dark money by the millions. But it doesn’t stop there. They’re also financed by reputable U.S. corporations and their leaders—and even federal grants. These nonprofits have similar goals: opening the border, abolishing immigration enforcement, and granting citizenship to illegal immigrants.
These leftist activist nonprofits are consistent in their messaging, outlined succinctly in collaborative efforts such as the United Nations Human Rights Council Immigration Working Group of 2020 report. That report advocated for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the establishment of “Welcoming Centers” to process any who wish to come across the border in Yuma, Nogales, and in other states along the southern border.
The following are the powerhouse groups leading coordinated efforts in Arizona to undermine the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
Aliento Education Fund (Aliento) — Phoenix. Reported revenue for 2023: over $1.7 million.
Aliento’s founder and current leader is Reyna Montoya, a DACA recipient. Montoya’s partner and the nonprofit’s vice president of education and external affairs, José Patiño, is a 2024-25 Obama Foundation USA Leader.
Aliento provides illegal aliens with a defense and preparation plan to counter immigration enforcement efforts as well as resources on evading ICE.
Should the Supreme Court take on and overrule the active Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) case, recipients like their founder, Montoya, would be at risk for deportation. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled DACA to be unlawful for new applicants but allowed renewals to continue.
The pressure of these pending changes to immigration law spurred Aliento to mobilize its forces.
Earlier this month, the Aliento chapter at Arizona State University led a protest against the advocacy of another campus group, College Republicans United, to aid deportation efforts.
Hundreds of student protestors at ASU stood up to fascists gathered to promote ethnic cleansing and report undocumented students. They protected their undocumented classmates by creating an impromptu march that overwhelmed the MAGA racists. #3E#USprotests#Arizona#ICEpic.twitter.com/gVQeGpvOwh
In a subsequent interview with Arizona PBS, Montoya defended illegal immigration as permissible so long as the illegal immigrants don’t get a criminal record while in the country. Montoya also claimed the media and the Trump administration were exaggerating the negative consequences of illegal immigration.
“I think that people are really afraid that people who have been paying taxes, folks who haven’t really gotten in any trouble with the law, they are now targeted to be deported,” said Montoya.
In response to those supportive of deportations, Montoya declared illegal aliens shouldn’t be held responsible for committing the crime of illegal immigration.
“What would you do if you were in our shoes?” said Montoya. “That you only made one mistake in your life that pushed you from different circumstances, what would you have done?”
Among Aliento’s top donors over the past decade are the Tides Foundation ($675k), Pharos Foundation ($450k), Arizona Community Foundation ($355k), Satterberg Foundation ($350k), Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation ($300k), and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors ($222k).
Last year, Aliento also received a $75,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield to improve the mental health of illegal immigrants.
In 2022, Aliento received $250,000 from the GoDaddy founder’s charitable organization, the Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation.
The Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE) — Phoenix. Reported revenue for 2023: nearly $7 million.
ACE is a Phoenix-based illegal alien advocacy nonprofit and a sister organization to Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA). ACE has regularly reimbursed LUCHA a little over a million in expenses for the past several years. ACE emerged as a response to SB1070 over a decade ago.
ACE’s founders are Alejandra Gomez and Abril Gallardo Cervera.
Gomez, the executive director, formerly served as deputy organizing director of United We Dream, an illegal immigration advocacy organization, and co-executive director of LUCHA.
Cervera is the chief of staff for LUCHA, which she also founded, and sits on the board of United We Dream Action. Cervera played a significant role in unseating former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as well as passing the Health Working Families Initiative to raise Arizona’s minimum wage.
Other key players in ACE’s short history include Democratic lawmaker Raquel Terán, who sat on ACE’s board and formerly served as its director. Now, Terán is the director of the newly-formed Proyecto Progreso — another entity resisting immigration enforcement.
In response to the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, ACE has issued advisories to illegal aliens on avoiding immigration enforcement detainment: instructing them to remain silent, obtain legal counsel, and refuse law enforcement entry into the home without a warrant. ACE is also providing free assistance to illegal aliens, such as the completion of DACA renewal paperwork.
ACE and LUCHA senior policy advisor, Lena Avalos, led recent efforts to oppose a new Republican-led bill in the Arizona legislature (SB1111) offering a $2,500 bounty for each illegal immigrant via an Arizona Deportations Fund.
“This bill is nothing more than Donald Trump’s 2025 agenda, and you are wasting taxpayer resources on hateful, racist legislation,” said Avalos during the Senate Government hearing on SB1111.
Among ACE’s top donors over the past decade were the Center for Popular Democracy ($1.7 million), the Voter Registration Project (for voter registration, over $3.5 million), and the Telescope Fund ($900,000).
Chicanos Por La Causa Action Fund, also known as “Si Se Vota” (CPLCAF) is the advocacy arm of the similarly named nonprofit, Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC). Reported revenue for 2023: $4.4 million.
CPLCAF is resisting the Trump administration by tapping top elected officials and grabbing the ears of the state’s movers and shakers.
The week of Trump’s inauguration last month, CPLCAF’s executive director, Joseph Garcia, met with leaders at Arizona State University’s Hispanic Research Center to advocate against the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation.
CPLCAF receives its funding from CPLC: over $10.4 million directly from CPLC the last two years. CPLC had a reported $200 million in revenue in 2023.
A significant portion of CPLC’s millions has come from federal government grants: the nonprofit was awarded nearly $72 million out of the approximately $500 million in obligations (about $297 million of these obligations incurred from 2020 onward, nearly 60 percent of total obligations incurred since the earliest available dataset provided in 2008). The majority of these grants came under the Biden administration:
In 2020, CPLC received a $101 million grant and a $68 million grant to carry out migrant head start programming, which doesn’t require proof of citizenship. $66 million and $53 million were outlayed, respectively; the performance period for the former doesn’t end until this August, and the latter grant ended last August.
In 2021, CPLC received a $4 million grant, again for head start programming. The total grant was awarded by the performance period’s end last year.
In 2022, CPLC received an $18 million grant to provide residential shelter and/or transitional foster care services for unaccompanied illegal immigrant children. Nearly $13 million has been outlayed; the performance period ends in June.
In 2023, CPLC received a $16 million grant to conduct home study and post-release services for unaccompanied illegal immigrant children. About $2 million of that grant has been outlayed; the performance period ends in September 2026.
In 2023, CPLC received a $12 million grant, again for head start programming. About $6 million of that grant has been outlayed; the performance period ends in December 2028.
In 2024, CPLC received a $21 million grant, again for migrant head start programming. About $7 million of that grant has been outlayed; the performance period ends in August 2029.
The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (Florence Project) — Tucson. Reported revenue for 2023: $17.8 million.
The Florence Project provides free legal and social services to detained illegal immigrants of all ages in Arizona. The founders were immigration attorneys Christopher Brelje and Charlene D’Cruz. It is the largest organization of its kind in the state. The nonprofit is engaged in two of 22 lawsuits filed so far against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The Trump administration’s Interior Department recently gave the Florence Project a stop work order on the Unaccompanied Children’s Program. The program issues government funding to non-governmental organizations to provide legal services to illegal alien minors. Days later following outcry and pushback, the administration rescinded that order.
Last month, the nonprofit sued the Trump administration over a day-one executive order, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” which dropped the court hearing requiring to expedite deportations, barred federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions, limited parole authority to a case-by-case basis, limited Temporary Protected Status awards, paused pending the review and audit of all funds to non-governmental organizations involved with illegal aliens, prohibited public benefits to illegal aliens, and hired more immigration enforcement.
Earlier this month, the nonprofit sued the Trump administration over the proclamation shutting down asylum at the border.
In 2022, the Florence Project received $10 million from MacKenzie Scott — ex-wife to Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. Scott’s donation was the single-largest gift from a donor in the nonprofit’s 35-year history, enabling the organization to expand in an unprecedented way by providing a “representation-for-all legal services model.”
A close second in funding is the Lakeshore Foundation, which gave the nonprofit about $7.6 million within the last decade.
Another top donor is the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education, which gave about $600,000 over the past decade. This nonprofit was founded for the purpose of serving Arizonans.
Among other top donors over the past decade were Together Rising ($487k), the Norman E. Alexander Family Foundation ($308k), and the Immigrant Justice Corps ($309k).
The Florence Project also received over $500,000 in independent contract payments from the Acacia Center for Justice in 2022 for legal services.
PODER in Action (Poder) and PODER Arizona (AZ Poder) — Phoenix. Reported revenues for 2023: $2.1 million and $1.1 million, respectively.
Poder was founded in 2013 as “Center for Neighborhood Leadership” by Ken Chapman and Joseph Larios. It was run by individuals from illegal immigrant families.
Chapman has spawned a number of activist efforts in his name. Alongside LUCHA’s Cervera, Chapman played a significant role in unseating former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Prior to Poder, Chapman was the executive director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party. Last year, Chapman sued the city of Phoenix for not producing records of elected officials’ communications with the Phoenix Police Department union.
Poder is the 501(c)(3) sister organization to its 501(c)(4), AZ Poder. Per the latest tax returns, the two organizations share identical leadership: executive director Viridiana (Viri) Hernandez and board members Nichole Cassidy (Chispa Arizona’s director of development; formerly: senior director of development for Women’s March, deputy director for Equality Arizona, director of development for Mijente, director of philanthropy for ACLU), Maher Osman (board member of CAIR Arizona, development coordinator for Instituto), Stephanie Cordel, and Zarinah Tavares.
Last November following Trump’s election, Hernandez, who came into the U.S. illegally, pushed the Phoenix City Council to refuse to assist deportations carried out by the Trump administration. Hernandez said the council needed to deprioritize immigration calls the way it has deprioritized abortion calls.
Since President Trump took office, AZ Poder organized protests at the Capitol against immigration enforcement efforts. They have also held workshops coaching illegal immigrants on ways to avoid immigration enforcement authorities.
Their top donors include the Alliance for Youth Organizing ($780k), Borealis Philanthropy ($700k), Marguerite Casey Foundation ($780k), and the Satterberg Foundation ($470k).
Puente Human Rights Movement, or Puente Arizona (Puente) – Phoenix. Reported revenue for 2023: nearly $900,000
Jovana Renteria (currently a director of the Maricopa County Bar Association’s division board) and Carlos Garcia (formerly the vice mayor of the city of Phoenix and co-founder of One Arizona) founded the nonprofit in 2007. Both left the organization in 2021.
Puente is helping illegal aliens evade immigration enforcement and other law enforcement officials assisting in deportation efforts.
Days into Trump taking office, Puente launched a hotline to warn illegal aliens of immigrant agent whereabouts and activity. The nonprofit sends out messages to illegal aliens so they may evade capture. Puente also arranged a network of scouts, “Migra Watch,” and the organization announced its plan to hold training sessions for those who sign up.
The nonprofit also scrubbed their website in preparation for their efforts to resist immigration enforcement. Their homepage currently reads, “We Are Cooking Something New.”
Puente’s executive director, Natally Cruz (Ireta), came to the U.S. illegally. In February, Cruz told NPR that she and the rest of Puente’s team are hands-on with the immigration authority hotline. Cruz has been leading workshops advising illegal immigrants on avoiding immigration authorities and taking advantage of constitutional rights.
“Instead of texting your comadre, or spreading the word, or putting a picture on social media, text it to us and we’ll make sure we’ll go out there and verify that information,” said Cruz.
Among Puente’s top donors over the past decade were Neo Philanthropy (over $1 million), the Arizona Community Foundation ($400k), Borealis Philanthropy ($300,000), and the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program ($300k).
Puente is the local hub of the national social justice organization also based in Phoenix: Mijente. Puente acts as a fiscal sponsor for the Mijene Support Committee, a digital and grassroots hub founded in 2015. Mijente has given at least $265,000 to Puente in reported pass-through grants in recent years.
Mijente is currently organizing groups for “deportation defense” to “organize against ICE raids” through its Community Defense Brigada, part of its Equipo Hormiguero program.
At the helm of Mijente are Marisa Franco, its co-founder, executive director, and president; Rafael Navar, its co-founder and treasurer; and Priscilla Gonzalez, secretary and campaign director.
Navar also founded Division Del Norte, a California activist group, and formerly served as the California state director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, and several directorships for the major labor unions AFL-CIO and SEIU.
Last December, Mijente and 61 other organizations launched an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Biden administration to scale back ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), the immigration agency’s supervision program, to hinder the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
Back in December 2024, we joined @JustFuturesLaw and 60+ organizations to call on Secretary Mayorkas to immediately scale back ISAP before Trump could weaponize it for mass arrests & deportations. And now there’s indications of those concerns becoming reality.
One of Mijente’s top donors is the Open Society Foundations (OSF or “Open Society Institute”), the nonprofit launched by leftist billionaire and dark money financier George Soros. OSF gave Mijente over $2.5 million from 2019 to 2022, along with $25,000 to Puente.
The Protests Will Go On
Mass protests against the Trump administration’s immigration policies and deportation efforts may not die down but could take different shapes in the coming months. Activists shifted their focus recently to protesting the Arizona legislature’s bills complementing federal immigration policies like SB1164: the Arizona Immigration, Cooperation, and Enforcement Act (Arizona ICE Act). This bill proposes restrictions on local governmental resistance to federal immigration authorities by adopting or passing anything prohibiting or restricting cooperation. It also requires law enforcement agencies to comply with federal immigrant detainers.
The Senate’s committee hearing on SB1164 drew a similar crowd of protesters as those who appeared in preceding weeks protesting the Trump administration. LUCHA organized that protest; an organizer, Gina Mendez, said LUCHA plans to protest every Monday at the state capitol against immigration enforcement efforts.
“NO PEACE, NO JUSTICE,” chanted the activists at one of the latest protests. “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE.”
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Another criminal justice-related bill is making its way through the Arizona Legislature.
Last week, the Arizona House of Representatives approved HB 2813 “to provide compensation for individuals who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated in Arizona.” The legislation received a unanimous vote of support from lawmakers.
In a statement accompanying the progress of the proposal, State Representative Khyl Powell, the sponsor of the legislation, said, “Accountability applies to everyone – people, institutions, and government itself. When the state wrongfully takes years of someone’s life, it has a responsibility to make things right. I sponsored HB 2813 to ensure that Arizona acknowledges its mistakes, takes responsibility, and provides meaningful compensation to those who have been unjustly imprisoned.”
Powell added, “Government must work for the people, not against them. This bill ensures that those who have been wronged by the system are not left to pick up the pieces on their own.”
According to the press release issued by the Arizona House Republicans, the bill “establishes clear procedures for individuals who have been exonerated to seek compensation from the state. Under the bill, wrongfully convicted Arizonans will receive 200% of the median household income for each year they were incarcerated and have access to critical resources such as mental health treatment, education, and financial planning services to help rebuild their lives. The legislation also mandates the immediate expungement of all records associated with the erroneous conviction, ensuring that exonerated individuals are no longer burdened by a past that was never theirs to bear.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Arizona Justice Project, American Civil Liberties Union of AZ, Arizona National Organization for Women, and Arizona Faith Network signed in to support the bill. Representatives from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and Arizona Association of Counties indicated their opposition to the proposal.
HB 2813 will now be considered by the Arizona Senate.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The Arizona List, a pro-abortion lobbying group, hosted its 21st Annual Celebration on Saturday under the headline: “How we regroup and come back stronger.” The event featured Viridiana Hernandez, Executive Director of ‘Poder in Action,‘ who in 2020 called for “a world without police.” She was honored as a “trailblazer” alongside former Arizona Senator and current President/CEO of the Regional Center for Border Health Amanda Aguirre, and Anakarina Rodriguez of Mi Familia Vota.
The event was also attended by seven Democrat state legislators: Heley Creighton (LD7), J’aime Moraine (LD30), Marcia Smith (LD1), Nancy Hartl (LD7), Helen Hunter (LD10), Kim Moschetti (LD14) and Cochise County Supervisor Theresa Walsh. As reported by the AZ Mirror in June 2020, Hernandez spoke at a demonstration hosted by Black Mother’s Forum outside the Phoenix City Council demanding the defunding of the Phoenix Police Department. “Today we are here to dream of a world without police,” she told the protesters. “Reform is not enough… It is not possible. We ultimately need to abolish the system that exists and together create a new world.”
CNN Commentator and former Hillary Clinton adviser Karen Finney was a featured speaker at the event as well. Finney, suggested in a post to X on Friday that President Donald Trump “might be a danger to the U.S.,” and that Republicans are “letting Putin play Trump like a fiddle.”
Finney also referred to Vice President JD Vance as “completely irrelevant,” and described Trump’s disagreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that day as “despicable but predictable.” She also accused the President of doing Putin’s bidding saying, “Without lifting a finger he’s got Trump fighting his battle and looking like an ass.”
In posts to Facebook, the pro-abortion group shared posts from Pima County Supervisor Adelita S. Grijalva who wrote, “No better way to kick off Women’s History Month than with the 21st Annual Arizona List Celebration, honoring elected women and women in leadership throughout the state of Arizona who are working to make a difference in their communities!”
Elma Alvarez a Tucson Democrat nominee to fill the vacant LD20 State House seat of Andrés Cano wrote, “It was truly uplifting to celebrate incredible women at the annual Arizona List celebration. Two extraordinary women I’m privileged to know, Anakarina Rodriguez and Claire Knipe, were honored. The Arizona List is a remarkable organization that empowers pro-choice women to achieve public office.“
Activist groups are addressing illegal immigrants’ fears of mass deportations through trauma therapy.
The Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Coalition, HRC) out of Tucson formed a committee dedicated to mental health services for illegal immigrants.
HRC’s first emotional support forum took place over the weekend. The forum focused on how illegal immigrants have begun generating adaptive behaviors due to their worry over possible deportation, as well as stress, anxiety, and depression over their low tolerance for uncertainty. HRC recommended identifying emotions, self care, and taking action to counter worry over deportation: taking care of one’s environment, not comparing oneself to others, taking one day at a time, making plans, remembering one’s skills and achievements, and making an “emotional first aid kit.”
The forum was led by a trauma therapist, Sandra Martinez.
In addition to HRC, those hosting the forum were the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Parish, Immigration Law & Justice Network, Mamas Con Poder, Paisanos Unidos, and Cultural Resource Center for Women and Their Families.
HRC followed the example of other advocacy organizations such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which began offering free, virtual mental health services to illegal immigrants, as well as legal guidance and trainings. HRC leadership partnered with the Consulate of Mexico last month in launching UNAM’s digital platform for illegal immigrants, Acción Migrante. UNAM has headquarters in Tucson as well as San Antonio, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; and the Northwest Station of the Institute of Legal Research in Tijuana, Mexico.
HRC also intervenes in visits by immigration enforcement to illegal immigrants’ homes. HRC’s “Rapid Response” network acts as a middle man when ICE arrives at illegal immigrants’ homes. The activist group also provides lawyers to these families. HRC coordinates using a tip line that community members call.
In one case reported by Tucson Spotlight last week, an HRC affiliate — Luis Campo, director of Alliance of Idaho — stopped ICE agents from entering an illegal immigrant family’s home and refused to allow entry without a signed judicial warrant. The ICE agents reported they were there to check on the welfare of the four unaccompanied children residing in the home owned by a Venezuelan couple.
Like other pro-illegal immigrant activist organizations, HRC hosts “Know Your Rights” workshops educating illegal immigrants and businesses on ways to avoid ICE interactions. Certain businesses relying heavily on illegal immigrants, like restaurants, tell the media that they rely on HRC coaching to bar ICE from entering their establishments.
HRC’s nonprofit name, “Arizona Border Rights Foundation,” reported just over $160,000 in revenue in 2023.
Reported leadership for the organization in 2023 all had University of Arizona ties: Isabel Garcia, former legal defender of Pima County and advisory board member of the College of Social & Behavioral Studies Mexican American Studies; Violeta Dominguez, University of Arizona research scientist and involved advocate for transgenderism; Ildefonso “Poncho” Chavez, University of Arizona director of economic development with Eller College of Management; and Raquel Rubio Goldsmith, co-director of the University of Arizona’s Binational Migration Institute at the Department of Mexican American Studies.
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How much water does Arizona currently have? That’s the question on the mind of Arizona lawmakers this legislative session.
Last week, Arizona House Republicans revealed that a small group of legislators had previously sent a letter to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), asking the agency “to provide basic information on the following details related to Arizona’s rural groundwater basins:
The average depth-to-water level in each basin
The maximum depth of each basin
The average depth of each basin
The total volume of groundwater in each basin
The number of index wells in each basin.”
The letter, which was authored by State Representative Gail Griffin, Senator Tim Dunn, and former Senator Sine Kerr, was transmitted to ADWR on December 23, 2024.
Speaking about the reasoning behind the letter to ADWR, Representative Griffin said, “The intent was to give Arizonans a better understanding of the groundwater supply beneath their feet. For the last two years however, none of the Department’s assessments have included this basic information – such as ‘how much water do we have’ and ‘how long will that water last.’ This information is a fundamental component of the ‘supply’ side of the ‘supply and demand’ equation and needs to be included in each of the Department’s five-year ‘Supply and Demand’ Assessments.”
According to the press release issued by House Republicans, ADWR “provided a preliminary response to the December 23 letter, stating the number of active index wells in each basin and the maximum depth of each basin at its deepest point.” The response shared that the “Wilcox and Gila Bend groundwater basins are 4,800 feet deep at their deepest point.” However, as the release highlights, “The Department has yet to provide the total amount of groundwater that is available to each of these depths.”
Representative Griffin is not at all satisfied with ADWR’s incomplete answers. She said, “Just because you drill a well does not guarantee that there will be one hundred years’ worth of water. Republicans and Democrats both agree we need to know how much water is available in order to make informed decisions on critical groundwater policy. It’s also essential to our ability to plan for the future. How are we supposed to plan if we don’t know how much water we have?”
With these questions in mind, Griffin introduced a bill (HB 2271) this legislative session “to update the 5-year Supply and Demand Assessment statute and require the Department to include this information in its reports, moving forward.” If the proposal was signed into law, it would “provide critical answers to these basic questions, such as, ‘How much water do we have?’ and ‘How many years will that water last at the current rate of decline?’” Answering these questions would allow legislators to “plan to add new tools that work for rural Arizona, such as groundwater recharge, replenishment, and reuse.”
Focusing on her bill, Griffin said, “we understand that additional steps may be necessary to gather this information, but we also believe that taking these steps is a necessity to do our jobs effectively. I think the Department wants to make decisions based on science and that, if we give it the time and opportunity to gather this information, it will result in a better and more constructive dialogue for everyone.”
HB 2271 was approved by the Arizona House of Representatives last week.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
