Jerod Macdonald-Evoy, Arizona Mirror

Thirty statewide advocacy groups are urging the Republicans who lead the Arizona House of Representatives to take action against a GOP legislator who called for the execution of a Democratic congresswoman because she urged people upset with President Donald Trump to peacefully protest in the streets.

Kingman Republican Rep. John Gillette wrote on the social media site X on Sept. 25 that U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, was calling for the government to be overthrown and should be hanged.

“Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged.. it will continue,” Gillette said in response to a video of Jayapal. X has since limited the visibility of Gillette’s post because it violates the social media site’s policy on violent threats.

The Arizona Mirror was the first to report on Gillette’s call for violence against Jayapal.

“Representative Gillette’s comments were disorderly behavior of the highest order, reflect a broader pattern of inciting political violence that put lives at risk, and should not be tolerated by Arizona House leadership,” the letter obtained exclusively by the Arizona Mirror says, citing the House’s own rules. “We urge you to take action against Representative Gillette’s incitement of violence against another elected official, to demonstrate to the people of Arizona that they are free to non-violently protest and engage with their state legislature without fear for their lives.”

In an interview this week with the Arizona Republic, Gillette doubled down on his violent rhetoric, saying his only regret is that he should have said Jayapal should face a “firing squad” instead of being hanged to death.

Gillette’s comments come at a time of heightened political tensions and political violence, which the thirty organizations cited in their letter to House Speaker Steve Montenegro.

“This call for execution is deeply concerning in light of the recent assassination of Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband, the shooting of Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, the murder of Charlie Kirk, and the arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home,” the letter says.

Gillette himself spread unfounded conspiracy theories around the Minnesota shooter in the aftermath of the attack, attempting to pin the blame on Democrats. The accused murderer was an ardent supporter of Trump and Republicans.

Jayapal, who was the focus of Gillette’s most recent comments, has had an armed man show up at her house to harass her.

“To incite violence against Representative Jayapal, who has already faced deadly threats and intimidation, is unconscionable,” the letter says.

Gillette posted a press release on his Facebook page in which he denied calling for Jaypal’s execution and said the initial reporting on his earlier X post was “demonstrably false.”

He accused Jayapal of committing treason and said that any American who says what she did or “attempts to overthrow the United States Government” by engaging in insurrection should face the death penalty under the law.

“That is not my invention; it is established law,” Gillette wrote.

Except that it’s not. Federal law sets the penalty for insurrection at a maximum of 10 years in prison, and treason is defined as levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Federal law says that the penalty for treason can range from five years in prison to death.

Protesting a president does not meet the legal standard for either insurrection or treason. And the First Amendment protects free speech and peaceful protests.

Gillette went on to defend his call for executing Jayapal and other anti-Trump protesters because he called for them to have due process, which he noted is “the foundation of the American justice system,” and said he would do the same for “anyone regardless of party who openly advocates for the violent overthrow of the American government.”

That position is in contrast to his support for the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, violently assaulting police officers and breaking down doors and windows in order to access the building so they could stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election.

On several occasions, he has called the 1,600 or so people who were prosecuted — and since pardoned by Trump — for their actions that day “political prisoners.”

Gillette’s recent comments come after some of his democratic colleagues have voiced concerns over his rhetoric after he castigated them for calling for civility and unity in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a message to all his fellow lawmakers that included a racial slur, he placed blame for political violence solely on Democrats and the political left, accusing them of stoking hate and violence against Republicans.

“The tone was set by your party; unity is no longer an option,” he wrote on Sept. 14 to the 59 other members of the state House. “We handed you an olive ranch (sic), and you broke it. Your party invited the radicals to the table and they took over. Now you own them. As the J**s did at Peral (sic) Harbor, Radical Muslims on 911, your party has woken the sleeping giant.”

Last month, Gillette also came under fire for Islamophobic comments that led to an ethics complaint that was ultimately dismissed. The Republican chair of the House Ethics Committee said that Gillette had a First Amendment right to say whatever he wanted on social media without consequence.

An Arizona Republican state lawmaker on Wednesday called for the execution of a Democratic congresswoman from Washington state because she urged people upset with President Donald Trump to protest in the streets.

Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman, wrote on the social media site X that U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., was calling for the government to be overthrown and should be hanged.

“Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged.. it will continue,” Gillette said in response to a video of Jayapal.

That clip uploaded to X was from a longer video, which was posted online in March, that is part of Jayapal’s “Resistance Lab” series in which she and others discuss protest movements and non-violent actions. The session in question featured a speaker who studied political violence and spoke about non-violence.

The post Gillette responded to claimed that Jayapal was making a call to violence because she said protesters should be “strike ready” and “street ready.” The Arizona Mirror watched the video in its entirety and found no calls to violence or advocating for overthrowing the government; it was focused on “non-violent resistance” to Trump and advising people on how to do that.

In contrast, Gillette has expressed support for the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, who violently assaulted police officers and broke down doors and windows in order to access the building so they could stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election. In several posts on X, he called the 1,600 or so people who were prosecuted — and since pardoned by Trump — for their actions that day “political prisoners.”

He refused to answer questions when the Mirror reached him by phone on Thursday.

“You guys aren’t known for putting out accurate information,” Gillette said. “The comment is what it is, it is on the post. You can see what it is, there is no hidden meaning. No nothing. You report whatever you want to report. We are done. Stop calling me. Have a good day.”

Gillette then hung up and he did not respond to follow up questions texted to him about the post. A representative for Jayapal said that she is out of the country and currently unable to comment.

One of Gillette’s Democratic colleagues in the Arizona House of Representatives said the Kingman Republican’s call for an elected official to be put to death for exercising their First Amendment right was appalling.

“The Congresswoman was clearly talking about nonviolent protest and legal strikes — absolutely nothing violent,” Assistant House Democratic Leader Nancy Gutierrez said in a statement to the Mirror. “Representative Gillette misconstrued her words to once again put a target on a political opponent’s back, calling for her to be hanged. What will he need to say before Republican leadership in the House takes action? This is language that leads to violence. I’m tired of him putting us and our families at risk.”

Gillette’s recent comments come after some of his democratic colleagues have voiced concerns over his rhetoric after he castigated them for calling for civility and unity in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a message to all his fellow lawmakers that included a racial slur, he placed blame for political violence solely on Democrats and the political left, accusing them of stoking hate and violence against Republicans.

“The tone was set by your party; unity is no longer an option,” Gillette wrote to the 59 other members of the state House. “We handed you an olive ranch (sic), and you broke it. Your party invited the radicals to the table and they took over. Now you own them. As the J--s did at Peral (sic) Harbor, Radical Muslims on 911, your party has woken the sleeping giant.”

He has also recently come under fire for Islamophobic comments that led to an ethics complaint that was ultimately dismissed. The Republican chair of the House Ethics Committee said that Gillette had a First Amendment right to say whatever he wanted on social media without consequence.

Jeff Sharlet, a professor at Dartmouth and author of “The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War,” said he was “wary” to call Gillette’s words a direct call to violence, but said the comments were still worrying and part of a larger trend.

“I think it is grotesque what he is saying. I would be afraid that someone would maybe act on it,” Sharlet said, adding that if he were a Democratic politician who had to work with Gillette, he may be nervous. “If he got anywhere near the Congresswoman he is targeting, I’d want security to take notice.”

Discussions around political violence have reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, with high-profile conservatives laying blame on their political opponents and their rhetoric.

“We are having a punctuated burst — a historically high period of political violence that I would call America’s era of violent populism,” Dr. Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who has studied political violence for 30 years, told the Mirror.

In June, Pape penned an op-ed in The New York Times saying that the country was on the brink of an “extremely violent era” in American politics.

“We are now … in the eye of the storm I was worried about,” Pape said.

Pape runs the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, a nonpartisan research center. In May, Pape’s organization found that 40% of Democrats supported the use of force to remove Trump and 25% of Republicans supported the use of military against anti-Trump protests, double what the numbers were last fall.

That violent rhetoric used by Gillette also could have an unintended consequence on him and his political allies, Pape said.

“It is going to push those supporters (of Jayapal) to becoming more defiant and probably more supportive of political violence against Republicans,” he explained. “Whatever his intentions are, it is increasing the danger to Republicans.”

Sharlet said that, although the intention behind Jayapal’s words was easy to discern, “this is not the time for ambiguous language.” Politicians, he said, should aim to speak to the public in a more truthful and concise manner.

“They need to know the way it boomerangs back in a negative way to their own community,” Pape said, adding that he’d advise them to be more like Kirk’s widow, Erika.

At the memorial service for her husband, she said she forgives the man who killed her husband, adding that “the answer to hate is not hate.”

“Erika Kirk offered an olive branch here, and we need more olive branches here,” Pape said.

A student-led Democratic PAC has filed a complaint against Turning Point USA’s political arm, accusing it of violating Arizona’s dark money disclosure law by not revealing its funders who are providing money to run a campaign backing U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs’ bid for governor.

The Voters’ Right to Know Act, or Proposition 211, was overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2022 with the aim of eliminating anonymous election spending. It requires entities that spend at least $50,000 in statewide or legislative campaigns reveal the identities of individual contributors who give more than $5,000. Individuals who give $2,500 or more in local elections have to disclose their names, mailing addresses and employers.

Unity Rising USA’s Executive Director, Jacob George, filed the complaint Thursday against Turning Point Action and Turning Point PAC, which have been spending heavily to support Biggs. The veteran congressman is seeking the GOP nomination against businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson.

“Failing to properly disclose donors undermines the fairness and honesty Arizonans deserve from candidates and the partners supporting them,” George said in a press release announcing the complaint. “This isn’t the first time Turning Point has failed to follow the rules, and it probably won’t be the last.”

The complaint alleges that the two political advocacy arms of TPUSA have not filed the needed financial disclosures that are required under the Voters’ Right to Know Act which requires that the identities of each donor who contributes “directly or indirectly” more than $5,000 for campaign media spending to be revealed in a report that is available to the public.

“Despite this obligation, as of the date of this complaint, neither TPA nor TPP has filed a single report under the ACT,” the complaint says. “And while TPP’s federal PAC reports indicate that it has donors under $5,000 who need not be listed on Act reports, it indisputably has donors above that threshold who are reportable.”

Turning Point Action recently also gave $500,000 to Turning Point PAC to spend on media buys to support Biggs for Governor.

“Along with this contribution, TPA was obligated to provide TPP with the names of its own donors who gave TPA over $2,500, so that TPP can report subdonors as required under the Act, all the way back to original sources,” the complaint says. “But instead, TPP’s failure to file any Act reports has resulted in the nondisclosure of TPA at all, much less its original sources.”

The complaint also notes that none of the public communications by either entity include the names of the top three donors as is required under the Act. The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission is tasked with enforcing the dark money disclosure rules.

Turning Point Action did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

If the Citizens Clean Elections Commission deems the complaint to be valid, it will have 14 days to then send a copy of the complaint to Turning Point Action and Turning Point PAC. The Commission can set a deadline for them to respond of up to 30 days; not responding can be seen as an admission of guilt.

If Turning Point Action and Turning Point PAC are found to be in violation, then the commission can enforce civil penalties or seek relief in court. Those civil penalties can be up to three times the amount of the improper contribution.

If the organizations are found to be in violation, it would not be the first time. Last year, Turning Point Action was fined $18,000 by the Federal Elections Commission for failing to disclose more than $33,000 in contributions, and in 2022, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office investigated them for possible campaign finance violations.

Some allegations of campaign finance impropriety go back as far as 2017, and the organization has always been secretive about its donors.

“Regardless of party, I think Arizonans expect everyone to play by the rules, especially after the years spent by Turning Point leadership decrying non-existent fraud in Maricopa County,” George said in the press release about the complaint.

Arizona Sen. Vince Leach, a Tucson Republican, shared a meme on Facebook decrying foreign-born politicians — even though members of his own caucus were born outside the country.

“There are 32 foreign-born members of Congress!” the meme says, alongside an image of Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, long a target of Islamophobic attacks. “Who do they really represent?”

Leach posted the image to both his personal and candidate Facebook pages along with the caption “Question of the day.” Leach did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

He’s correct that 32 members of Congress were born outside of the United States — nine Republicans and 23 Democrats. One of them is Arizona Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani who was born in Mexico, and became a citizen through the naturalization process.

Ciscomani did not respond to a request for comment from the Arizona Mirror.

“As someone born abroad while my father proudly served in the U.S. Air Force, I find Senator Leach’s post surprising and disappointing,” Arizona Senate Minority Whip Rosanna Gabaldón told the Mirror. “Implying that foreign-born Americans are somehow less capable of representing their communities undermines the very principles of service, equality and democracy that our country is built on.”

Gabaldón, who was born in Bermuda, is one of six Arizona state lawmakers who are foreign born. Four of the six are Republicans.

“Arizona is made stronger by its diversity, and our leaders should focus on bringing people together, not questioning the patriotism or legitimacy of their colleagues based on birthplace,” Gabaldón said. “I stand proudly with all who serve honorably, regardless of where they were born.”

Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro, who was born in El Salvador, did not respond to the Mirror’s request for comment about the meme that Leach shared.

Other notable politicians born outside the country include Texas Republican Ted Cruz, Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.

The image elicited a number of xenophobic and Islamophobic comments.

“ALL FOLLOWING 9-11,” one commenter claimed, wrongly alleging that all the foreign-born members of Congress were elected after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.

The countries where the largest number of current members of Congress were born are India, Mexico and West Germany.

Gov. Katie Hobbs sent a warning to Republicans in Congress debating a federal budget that would slash spending on health care and food assistance to pay for tax cuts that passing it would be “devastating for Arizonans.”

The Democratic governor made the comments Tuesday at a ceremonial signing of the state budget. Last week, after weeks of feuding between the Republicans who control the state House of Representatives and Senate, Hobbs signed the state budget with bipartisan majorities in both chambers, narrowly avoiding a June 30 deadline to prevent a government shutdown.

The signing evet comes as Republicans at the federal level are grappling over a budget, with senators working late into the night yesterday to pass President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”. That spending package, which must be given final approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, would kick an estimated 12 million people off of Medicaid and shift a significant portion of the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to states.

“This budget bill will be devastating for Arizonans,” Hobbs told members of the media. “We don’t have the capacity to mitigate these cuts.”

Hobbs reiterated that the cuts would harm a large number of people in the state, largely in rural areas. The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association has previously said that, if the proposed cuts were to pass, some hospitals in the state would likely close.

“I hope this bill doesn’t become law,” Hobbs said.

In a statement issued today, the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association urged U.S. House Republicans to “stand firm…(and) prioritize the protection of our most vulnerable populations,” particularly those in rural communities.

“We estimate Arizona’s healthcare system would lose over $6 billion over the next seven years. In other words, more than 55% of Arizona hospitals would be operating in the red. Hospitals will be, at best, forced to restrict services such as obstetrics, behavioral healthcare, and other complex services, and at worst, will close their doors altogether,” AzHHA said in its statement.

When asked if the state could tap into its nearly $1.5 billion “rainy day fund” to backfill federal cuts, Hobbs said it “will be a Band-Aid we don’t have” before calling the member of the press who asked a “buzzkill” for asking the question at a “celebration.”

While lawmakers ended the annual legislative session after they passed the budget, Hobbs left open the possibility of a special session to modify the budget in response to federal cuts.

“We’re going to have to look at that when or if it happens,” she said.

Hobbs also spoke about the process it took for Arizona to reach its own negotiated budget.

Republicans in the state House held up the budget process for weeks after they left negotiations between the Senate and Hobbs, choosing instead to create two separate budgets that catered to GOP priorities, both of which Hobbs ultimately vetoed.

Hobbs said that “three out of four caucuses helped on the budget,” while “one caucus decided to go rogue” on the budget process. She added that, ultimately, she ended up being “proud of the work we did.”

“We did everything we could,” Hobbs said about getting House Republicans on board with the budget process.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

A Colorado man who wrote online about how he had the right to execute then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs — who later became Arizona's governor — and made similar threats against Jena Griswold, the Colorado secretary of state, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison.

Teak Ty Brockbank blamed being exposed to far-right extremism content online, including the QAnon conspiracy theory, for motivating him to make online threats.

In the criminal complaint for the case, FBI agents included posts from Brockbank that included the common QAnon catchphrase “WWG1WGA” and references to other QAnon beliefs.

Acronyms are popular among the QAnon community, and the most well known is WWG1WGA, meaning “Where We Go One, We Go All,” a phrase used as a rallying cry among the “digital soldiers” of the QAnon community.

Brockbank’s online avatar was a version of a cartoon frog that has become popular in antisemitic, conspiracy theory and racist online circles.

In August 2022, Brockbank posted on the video service Rumble, which has become a favorite platform for misinformation, that people like Hobbs and Griswold were committing treason for alleged election fraud. There is no evidence of widespread election fraud or election fraud perpetrated by Hobbs or Griswold.

“Once these people start getting put to death then the rest will melt like snowflakes and turn on each other and we will sit back why (sic) the worst of them get pointed against the wall as well,” Brockbank wrote in a comment on a Rumble video. “This is the only way. So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we All are going to do!!!!!!”

Brockbank, who used to live in Cave Creek, also claimed that he had a right to “execute” Hobbs in public.

“[W]e the people have every right to walk up to one of them and execute them for their actions,” Brockbank wrote in another comment on Rumble.

FBI agents also discovered posts Brockbank made stating that, if federal agents came to his residence, he would murder them.

“ATF CIA FBI show up to my house I am shooting them peace’s (sic) of shit first No Warning!!” Brockbank wrote in response to a post about the arrest of an ATF agent. “Then I will call the sheriff!!! With everything that these piece of shit agencies have done I am completely justified to just start dropping them as soon as they step on my property!”

While Brockbank said in court that he regrets his decisions and has blamed drinking for his behavior, the U.S. Department of Justice in a recent filing pointed to threatening remarks he aimed at federal officials as recently as 2024 and the discovery he was possessing firearms, when he is a prohibited felony possessor, as indicators of his insincerity.

“There was so much ammunition in the residence that agents elected not to count it,” the DOJ wrote. “The firearm near the front door, moreover, was loaded and cocked.”

Hobbs declined to comment on the sentencing.

After Donald Trump tapped him as his running mate, J.D. Vance crisscrossed the country and gave speech after speech in which he, like Trump, demonized immigrants and promised to mount a mass deportation effort if elected.

The Boeing 737 that he used to travel around the nation is now being used to deport immigrants. Records show that it has made at least 16 flights to Central and South American countries to deport immigrants this year.

An Arizona Mirror analysis of publicly available data and records obtained by the University of Washington through Freedom of Information Act requests confirms that the 22-year-old jet is part of the fleet of planes known as “ICE Air” that swiftly shuttles immigrants out of the United States. ICE Air consists of multiple charter airlines and other private aviation companies around the country who are contracted to move immigrant detainees inside and out of the country.

Even before the plane was emblazoned with the Trump campaign logo in July 2024, it had been used at least four times to transport immigrant detainees during an earlier stint on the ICE Air fleet.

Data analyzed by the Mirror and confirmed by University of Washington Center for Human Rights researcher Phil Neff show that the aircraft flew four ICE Air missions in April and May of 2018.

Those four missions consisted of three removal flights to El Salvador and Guatemala, in which deportees were shipped off to those countries. The fourth was a transfer flight, in which detainees were moved from one ICE facility to another.

During those four missions in 2018, the aircraft carried between 456 to 504 passengers, according to ICE passenger data.

And records from 2020 detail 35 flights from known ICE hubs to Central and South American countries.

For example, on March 6, 2020, the aircraft took off from the Alexandria Airport in Louisiana, where ICE has a staging facility operated by private contractor GEO Group. It then landed at the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before returning to Alexandria.

Earlier this year, that same airport was where military planes deported migrants.

Data on flights after 2018 is more difficult to confirm. ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began redacting identifying information of the aircraft used in the deportation process, making it more difficult to see the movements of individual planes, though it is still possible in some cases. Civil rights groups have been fighting for records about the program, while the agency regularly slow-walks records releases.

“Our experience in general with FOIAs — not just with the Department of Homeland Security, but especially with the Department of Homeland Security — is you should expect to have to sue to get information and for us that process involves getting approval from the highest level of the university,” Neff told the Mirror. “So, we have had to be very selective in the case in which we have had to do that.”

Just five months after Trump and Vance won the election, the aircraft flew between multiple airports known for ICE Air activity before heading to an airport in Honduras known for deportation flights, then coming to rest at Mesa Gateway Airport.

It is not clear if Trump or Vance were aware of the aircraft’s history prior to it becoming part of their campaign. A spokesperson for the White House directed the Mirror to the Department of Homeland Security and Vance’s office. Vance and DHS did not respond.

From ferrying travelers to deportees

The aircraft, N917XA, has a long and interesting history.

It started its life in the fleet of the now defunct Air Berlin before transferring to Orenair, another ill-fated airline based in Russia, until it was acquired by Swift Air.

Swift Air was a subcontractor for ICE and has previously conducted flights out of Mesa Gateway Airport, one of ICE’s major airport hubs. Flight history shows the plane has made multiple flights to and from Mesa Gateway to other ICE airport hubs, as well as to Central and South American countries.

A previous inspector general report listed the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport as the operational headquarters for ICE Air.

Swift Air rebranded as iAero Airways in 2019, but went bankrupt in 2024. Eastern Air Express acquired much of iAero’s assets, including N917XA, in April 2024. Three months later, it was unveiled as Vance’s campaign jet. Eastern Air Express has also taken over the ICE Air contracts that iAero held.

The company also has connections to the Trump world.

From 1989 to 1992, Trump owned an airline company called “Trump Shuttle,” which he purchased after meeting the Eastern Air Express CEO at a party. But the endeavor, like so many of Trump’s businesses, was financially doomed and failed.

ICE Air activities heat up in Arizona

ICE Air operations in Arizona are beginning to ramp up as well, with Avelo Airlines starting to make deportation flights out of Mesa Gateway this month, amid financial woes and market competition.

Contracts to conduct deportation flights are lucrative for the companies involved. The Project on Government Oversight has reported that CSI Aviation, whose corporate director was a “fake elector” in New Mexico for Trump, was awarded a no-bid contract to the tune of $128 million.

Neff said he wasn’t surprised to learn that the aircraft which had been used for deportations had been utilized by the Trump campaign, although he did say there was an “irony to it.”

During their research, Neff said they found that some of the contractors would often boast about how they could turn aircraft around from passenger style to luxury style on short notice, even finding aircraft that had previously been used for deportations later being used to shuttle professional sports teams or musicians around the country.

Immigrant advocates have been critical of the flights and say they raise a number of human rights and civil rights issues. Neff said those concerns are only being exacerbated by the Trump administration’s push to speed up deportations.

“I think it is really impossible to overstate or understand the true scope of human impacts of a deportation program on this scale,” Neff said.

During their initial research, which covered flights between 2010 and 2020, Neff said they found a “significant portion” of the passengers being deported still had ongoing cases that had not worked their way through the courts. The Trump administration has recently been defending its use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 1798 law that was last used during World War II to intern Japanese Americans, to do rapid deportations.

Once on the planes, immigrants are shackled at their feet and hands for the duration of the flight. In testimony in a class action lawsuit against the United States, where passengers were shackled for 23 hours sitting on the tarmac, some soiled themselves as they were denied access to the bathroom.

Abuse on ICE Air flights have been reported going back to 2016, when some passengers were left bloodied after being beaten and placed in body-bag style restraints. In some cases, deaths and miscarriages have been reported on ICE Air flights.

And transparency about the flights is getting worse, Neff noted.

While the first round of data obtained by researchers contained information such as flight destinations, flight costs and the tail numbers of aircraft, the government redacted that information from future releases.

While public flight history data is available to researchers, those researchers are working overtime to help track these flights.

“It is 8 or 10 hours, 7 days a week. It is a significant amount of time,” immigration activist Tom Cartwright, who has been voluntarily tracking ICE flights since Trump’s first term, told the Mirror.

During that time, Cartwright has noticed that tracking the aircraft has gotten considerably more difficult, as federal agencies have sought to stymie watchdogs from monitoring the program by removing their aircraft from flight-tracking services.

But Cartwright and others have still found other ways to keep a watchful eye on the program.

“The transparency has gotten worse over time and worse under the (second) Trump administration,” Cartwright said, adding that taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent. “To send some of these flights with relatively few people on them at a million dollars a flight seems pretty ridiculous, to be honest.”

The coming weeks and months are likely to keep Cartwright busy, as deportation flights have been ramping up. In the last couple of weeks, Cartwright said he has noticed flights have “accelerated quite a bit,” and he said is anticipating May to be a record-breaking month for total flights.

Cartwright said his work is important because it sends a message to those on the flights — and those their deportation left behind in America.

“The people on the planes deserve the dignity of someone giving a damn,” he said. “All these people on these planes, they have mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles. They deserve the dignity of someone understanding that they are being sent away to somewhere that, in some cases, they haven’t seen in years or somewhere that is dangerous or where they won’t be able to support their family.”

Social media posts have been falsely claiming that a man with connections to Arizona and far-right militias was the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who smashed a car’s window with an axe to apprehend a Guatemalan immigrant. But that man has not been hired by ICE and is currently in Oklahoma spreading conspiracy theories there.

Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer is the founder of a group known as Veterans on Patrol which has been involved with a number of militia activities along the southern border often with a QAnon theme.

Users on BlueSky and X, formerly Twitter, have been claiming that Meyer is an ICE agent who was seen breaking the window of a vehicle to arrest a Guatemalan immigrant woman as she was waiting for her attorney.

The Arizona Mirror found that Meyer was posting videos of himself in Oklahoma at the time of the incident in Massachusetts. Meyer has been making videos of himself at the Oklahoma state Capitol telling staff of lawmakers that he intends to “destroy” what he claims is “military weather manipulation” technology.

In an email to the Mirror, Meyer confirmed that he has been living in Oklahoma and said he does not work for ICE.

And ICE “vehemently” denied the claims that Meyer works for the agency in any capacity.

“The officer recorded making an arrest in New Bedford, Mass. is not militia leader Lewis Arthur,” an ICE spokesman said in an emailed statement to the Mirror. “The rumors circulating on social media that ICE Boston employed a militia leader from Arizona to make arrests in New England are not only false, but they are also inflammatory and place the safety of federal officers in jeopardy.”

ICE would not release the name of the officer seen in the video, and would only confirm that “he is a federal law enforcement officer who has worked with ICE to help keep New England communities safe for years.”

Meyer believes in the debunked chemtrail conspiracy theory that has been overtaking many state legislatures. His Telegram, a social media channel favored by the far-right for allowing hate speech and graphic content, if full of conspiratorial creeds and allusions to violence towards the alleged weather manipulation technology in Oklahoma.

Meyer’s group has long engaged in these sorts of antics and “operations.”

In 2018, his group found a homeless encampment and began spreading unfounded claims of sex trafficking and last year claimed that Hurricane Helene was created by the United States military.

Meyer also has a criminal record which includes damaging and stealing water meant for migrants along the border left by humanitarian groups in Arizona, disorderly conduct and trespassing at a cement factory he believed was part of a QAnon-style conspiracy.

Journalist Jessica Pishko also confirmed on X that she had recently seen Meyer in Oklahoma.

The leader of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that his dream for the agency is squads of trucks rounding up immigrants for deportation the same way that Amazon trucks crisscross American cities delivering packages.

“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said, explaining he wants to see a deportation process “like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings.”

Lyons was one of a series of Trump administration speakers at the 2025 Border Security Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center, including Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar”, and Kristi Noem, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Most extolled Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans, and Noem promised to expand its use to swiftly deport immigrants.

Several speakers, including Homan, told the military industrial complex representatives in the crowd that the Trump administration is depending on the private sector to implement its mass deportation agenda.

“We need to buy more beds, we need more airplane flights and I know a lot of you are here for that reason,” Homan told the crowd in his keynote speech, which kicked off the expo.

“Let the badge and guns do the badge and gun stuff, everything else, let’s contract out,” he said.

Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term and backed the controversial “zero tolerance” policy at the southern border, and has been connected to far-right extremist and conspiracy theorist groups.

He was one of two keynote speakers at the annual Border Security Expo, a trade show event that features hundreds of military and tech companies, many with controversial backgrounds, all aiming to secure federal contracts or expand existing ones. Organizers initially told the Arizona Mirror that media could not attend, but opened the doors to the press after the late announcement that Noem would be a second keynote speaker.

The logo of the Border Security Expo displayed on the wall of a ballroom at the Phoenix center on April 8, 2025. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror

The Trump administration has made border security a top priority, and the administration’s actions have faced scrutiny for their lack of due process and unprecedented efforts to keep mass deportation plans a secret, even from American courts.

The Mirror examined the list of companies in attendance and found that some of them have ties to Trump and his allies, such as Andruil Industries, which is tied to Trump ally Palantir, and whose director of defense technology was nominated by Trump to serve as the Army’s No. 2 official. Private prison company Geo Group, an ICE contractor who has seen its stock price skyrocket since Trump’s election, also was present at the event.

Many of the event’s sponsors also have ties to Trump, including one organization that is on the advisory board of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

Homan defended the controversial use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 1798 law that was last used during World War II to intern Japanese Americans.

“That is a law enacted by Congress, and we are using that,” Homan said, adding that it “bothers him” when judges or politicians attempt to prevent him from using it. Shortly before Homan spoke, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can use it for now.

He also said that family detention is still “on the table” as a policy, claiming that it is about ensuring that “families are families” and preventing human smuggling.

Homan wasn’t the only top immigration official to speak at the expo. Shortly after his keynote address, he joined a panel that included Lyons, Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection John Modlin and Deputy Chief for the U.S. Border Patrol David BeMiller and others for a “State of the Border” discussion.

Lyons said that he hopes that they can infuse artificial intelligence into the process to “free up bed space” and “fill up airplanes” taking immigrants back to their home countries at a faster rate.

Much like Homan, Lyons also shared that he supports the use of the Alien Enemies Act, calling it “amazing” to be able to speed up the process of deportations. He also said that he has been working with billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. Department of Government Efficiency to get social security numbers to look for “voter fraud.”

There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud connected to illegal immigration.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem giving a keynote address to a crowd of private sector and law enforcement at the Border Security Expo at the Phoenix convention center on April 8, 2025. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror

Noem told the packed ballroom at the Phoenix Convention Center that they are “extremely close” to “operational control” of the border as migrant arrests at the border have reached the lowest numbers they’ve seen in decades.

Before appearing at the Border Security Expo, Noem participated in an ICE raid in Phoenix that included about 100 federal agents. Among the people embedded at the raid was anti-LGBTQ influencer Chaya Raichik.

Echoing Trump’s campaign rhetoric, Noem said there has been a “war and an invasion” at the southern border — longtime talking points for white supremacists — while saying that the administration plans to use “new technology,” including biometrics, not just along the border but in the “interior” of the United States.

Much like the officials that spoke before her, Noem praised the use of the Alien Enemies Act and said that she would be working to defend its use. And she pledged to put the current operation “on steroids” to speed up the deportation process.

Texas-based Radical Defense displayed a buggy armed with several rifles at the Border Security Expo at the Phoenix convention center on April 8, 2025. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror

And Noem praised Musk and DOGE.

“I think the Department of Homeland Security has been their biggest partner,” Noem said of DOGE, claiming that the non-governmental agency has helped DHS find waste and abuse.

Noem also defended Trump’s use of tariffs to launch a global trade crisis and tank stock markets in the U.S. and around the globe.

“It will look like a roller coaster for a little while,” Noem said to an attendee who asked how the tariffs could impact DHS’s work. Noem added that she believes that the tariffs will help American families in the long run.

The event Tuesday was said by organizers to be the largest in its history, with the most attendees and vendors ever present. The expo floor was packed with members of both local and federal law enforcement. The Mirror observed members of the Apache Junction Police Department, Phoenix Police Department and U.S. Army, as well as border patrol agents.

U.S. Sens. Rueben Gallego and Mark Kelly sounded the alarm about Republican plans to slash Medicaid health care funding, telling attendees at a town hall in Scottsdale that working-class Arizonans will be devastated if voters don’t get engaged and apply pressure now.

Kelly said that the “real stories” of those who will be directly harmed by the cuts that President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans will pursue — a “high probability,” in his estimation — to offset the cost of tax cuts are the most powerful weapons that voters have.

Gallego said that voters have to give Republicans in Congress a reason to break with Trump.

“You have to make them fear the voter more than they fear Trump,” Gallego said. “That’s the only thing they understand.”

The senators spoke with constituents Monday at a healthcare facility in Scottsdale about concerns that Republicans have Medicaid in their sights.

House Republicans passed a budget resolution last week that directs the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion from programs under its jurisdiction — of which Medicaid is by far the largest.

Republicans have said that they have no intention of cutting the program, but Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for Trump to dramatically reshape the federal government and eliminate social safety net spending that conservatives have long opposed calls for deep cuts to Medicaid.

The town hall was held at the NOAH Cholla Health Center, a facility that Gallego and Kelly said would likely face closure if cuts to Medicaid happen. Many of the facility’s patients are enrolled in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program. Others have health coverage through Medicare, which provides services for older Americans.

“The thing we are talking about today hasn’t happened yet,” Kelly stressed to the audience, but he and Gallego said it was important for people to get engaged now instead of waiting.

An estimated 600,000 people in Arizona alone could lose medical coverage if Medicaid is cut by one-third, the scenario that GOP lawmakers have been currently proposing. As of February, there were 2 million people in Arizona, more than 20% of the people in the state, enrolled in AHCCCS.

If those cuts go into effect, approximately 47,000 rural residents would lose their health coverage, as would 190,000 children. More than 1 in 6 seniors would lose nursing home care.

Approximately 116,800 Native Americans in Arizona are enrolled in the American Indian Health services plan through AHCCCS that would also see a cut under the proposal.

“These are largely working class Arizonans,” Gallego said. “If they could afford their own health insurance, they would do that.”

Both Gallego and Kelly warned that, if the cuts take place, the use of emergency rooms will go up as people will likely put off care for longer, leading to worse outcomes and worse conditions.

Both men said that it will take public pressure to make Republicans not vote on a proposal to cut Medicaid funding and pushed back against those in the audience who voiced concerns about working with Republicans. Polling has been showing that voters are increasingly wanting Democratic politicians to fight Trump policies as opposed to compromise.

“They fight dirty and we’re not willing to get in the mud with them,” Marcos Castillo with Protect Our Care said to the two Senators to cheers from the audience. “Maybe it is time we start getting in the mud with them.”

Others in attendance thought making phone calls, talking to their friends and encouraging Republicans to vote no wasn’t enough.

“We can’t wait. How do we prepare?” Quianna Brown, the mother of a foster child with special medical needs said to Gallego and Kelly. “Would you mind telling your colleagues in Washington they’re burning down this house while there are people still inside?”

Both Gallego and Kelly said they felt for her and her husband’s concerns but reiterated that there needs to be a “grassroots” movement of people putting pressure on lawmakers to vote to not cut Medicaid funding.

“There is nothing happening in this country that says ‘we need to cut Medicare,’” Gallego said. “We need to fight them down, we need to grind them down.”

Two Arizona lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s nominee for a top Pentagon job spoke at a conspiracy theory convention over the weekend, appearing alongside a man who claims God is telling him to sell cryptocurrency.

Arizona lawmakers Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, and Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu, each spoke on multiple panels at the Quantum Summit 2 event, a convention for a fringe conspiracy theory that claims extraterrestrials are helping shape national and global policy.

During one presentation, Finchem was joined by retired Gen. Anthony Tata, Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon.

Tata had previously been nominated by Trump during his first presidency, but his past inflammatory remarks referring to President Barack Obama as a “terrorist” and a series of Islamaphobic tweets scuttled his appointment.

Tata has appeared at a Quantum Summit event before, speaking at the inaugural event in 2024; photographs of his participation were posted on the event website and in other promotional materials. The White House did not respond to a request for comment or answer questions if they were aware of Tata’s planned attendance.

In a program for the event posted to BlueSky by anonymous independent extremist researcher Arizona Right Watch, Tata was listed as speaking on a panel with Finchem and two individuals who frequently post videos with QAnon related themes. Both Biasucci and Finchem also held their own presentations separately, with Biasucci speaking about his legislation and Finchem about his work with a former Tennessee cop in which Finchem has pursued spurious fraud claims.

“We are a very small team,” Finchem said, alluding to a nonprofit he created that has spread debunked election fraud claims and whose “head researcher,” a former Tennessee cop named Shawn Taylor, was also present at the event. Finchem suggested that those in attendance should donate to help fund his nonprofit’s work.

Quantum Summit 2 was put on in Cape Canaveral, Florida, by believers in the NESARA/GESARA conspiracy theory. In its most basic form, NESARA/GESARA is a conspiracy theory that revolves around a proposed piece of economic reforms from the 1990s called the National Economic Security and Recovery Act that conspiracy theorists believe was enacted in secret by President Bill Clinton but was covered up by the U.S. Supreme Court via a gag order and suppressed by the 9/11 attacks, which were orchestrated by President George W. Bush.

GESARA refers to a supposed global version of the economic reforms that adherents similarly believe were instituted and then hidden.

In the early 2000s, the conspiracy theory gained popularity in the early internet days as Shaini Goodwin, calling herself the “Dove of Oneness,” made bold predictions about NESARA and world events with dubious claims of “insider knowledge.”

Goodwin is a “graduate” of a New-Age school whose leader often goes on homophobic and antisemitic rants and has teamed up with QAnon. It is also tied to the NXIVM cult that was investigated for sex crimes and much more.

The conspiracy theory has regained traction in recent years, as QAnon adherents have flocked to it due to its many similarities.

NESARA/GESARA has often also been called the “grandfather” of the QAnon conspiracy movement. Goodwin initially promoted it as part of a larger scam that defrauded investors of millions of dollars, with promises of the erasure of all debts and the eventual abolishment of the Internal Revenue Services.

Believers often claim that extraterrestrials have been in communication with them or leaders within the movement and are working to promote the NESARA/GESARA agenda. A promotional video for the Cape Canaveral event that Finchem and Biasiucci spoke at mentions discussions around encouraging the U.S. Space Force to work with the “Galactic Federation.” The idea of a Galactic Federation is often discussed in the context of UFO religions and New Age movements.

The event was the brainchild of a man named Mel Carmine, who believes that Trump, using the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is ushering in the NESARA/GESARA plan.

Carmine also has violent beliefs as to what the government should be doing to Trump’s perceived enemies.

“Everything you buy, everything you touch, has a tax,” Carmine said in a Feb. 11 interview with Finchem and Biasucci. “People are tired of the thievery…I believe I’m speaking for the American people. I’m pissed off and I know the American people are pissed off. I know I wanna see guillotines and I’m very sure the American people want to see the guillotines and people hanging from ropes. Are we going to see these people perp walked? Are we going to see these people taken care of?”

Neither Arizona lawmaker responded to the statement, and instead spoke about legislation they’re running about taxes in Arizona.

In that same interview, Finchem claimed that Attorney General Kris Mayes had sent a “threatening” letter to lawmakers regarding cryptocurrency. A spokesperson for Mayes said they were unaware of any letter and noted they were working with Republican lawmaker Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, on a cryptocurrency bill.

Neither Biasucci nor Finchem responded to repeated requests for comment.

In an opening video for the event, Carmine also claimed that God showed him the logo of a cryptocurrency in the sky that he is now pushing as the currency that will be backed by NESARA/GESARA. That cryptocurrency was featured prominently throughout the event and is pushed heavily on Carmine’s social media.

The event included a litany of speakers with conspiratorial ties and beliefs ranging from UFOs to a man who claimed that he was the original author of The Matrix movie, a claim that was rejected in court.

On Telegram during the conference, Carmine interviewed a person who claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead, was faked by the government and claimed “anti-gravity tech” and the scam technology known as “med beds” would be forthcoming.

Biasiucci and Finchem are not strangers to conspiracy conventions. In 2021, both spoke at a QAnon convention full of conspiracy theories and antisemitic propaganda.

Finchem has also fundraised with QAnon adherents and had major support from the QAnon community during his failed bid for statewide office in 2022. One of those major supporters, Juan O. Savin, was also a speaker at Quantum Summit 2.

by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, Arizona Mirror

February 18, 2025

A Republican proposal that would amend the Arizona Constitution to execute prisoners by firing squad instead of lethal injection passed its first hurdle Tuesday.

If the measure ultimately passes both chambers of the legislature, it would go before voters in 2026.

The sponsor, Scottsdale Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin, repeatedly told the House Committee on Regulatory Oversight his House Concurrent Resolution 2024 was inspired by an independent review of the death penalty that Gov. Katie Hobbs commissioned, and later spiked.

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That draft report, written by retired federal Magistrate Judge David Duncan, detailed the numerous problems the state has encountered when trying to procure the drug used for lethal injections. Hobbs hired Duncan in January 2023, shortly after she took office and fired him in November 2024.

The last execution performed by the state was done during the administration of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

Multiple judges and advocates, including Duncan, have spoken about the use of firing squads and recommended them as a way to continue executions in a more humane manner. Duncan concluded that, although lethal injection appears to be painless and humane, the reality is that it is “fundamentally unreliable, unworkable and unacceptably prone to errors.”

Duncan also noted that executions are “a violent act in every case.”

And Kolodin also cited retired federal judge Alex Kozinski, who in 2014 wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the firing squad should be reinstated because it was “foolproof,” unlike lethal injection.

“What I hear from these two judges is, if we are going to have these executions, we should drop the pretense, look it in the face,” Jeanne Woodbury, a lobbyist representing the ACLU said to the committee. “No matter the method, the death penalty is cruel and inhumane.”

The committee also heard from Conservatives Concerned About The Death Penalty, a conservative advocacy group that has been urging state lawmakers across the country to rethink capital punishment.

Nicholas Cote, the group’s states strategist, told the committee that Kolodin’s proposal does not address the “real and immediate problem” that is impacting the lethal injection process: The drug used to conduct the state’s executions is shrouded in secrecy, leading to issues with procurement and transparency.

“Putting this in the constitution seems like a real problem,” Cote said, adding that firing squads have been used less than five times in the modern era, mainly in Utah where the method was reinstated in 2015.

Other states are also looking at bringing back the firing squad as a method of execution, including Idaho, where lawmakers are trying to make it the default form of execution. Recently, an inmate in Georgia lost a petition to have his death penalty sentence be imposed by a firing squad as opposed to lethal injection. President Donald Trump has also signaled his support of the method.

Lawmakers also heard from a woman who previously worked as a correctional officer who worried about the emotional impact that death by firing squad would have on correctional officers.

“I have taken a life, and I promise you, it never goes away,” Tucson resident and veteran Courtney Quinones-Machado told the committee. Quinones-Machado said she has “chronic nightmares” from PTSD she received from her time in the military.

“I do not believe we need to traumatize correctional officers,” she said, adding that retention rates for correctional officers in the state are already low and making them participate in firing squad executions could worsen that.

But Republicans seemed unfazed by the concerns.

“What I have to say is this: Katie, if you are not capable of carrying out executions that the people of Arizona want you to carry out because lethal injection is too hard for you, then we are giving you an easy way to do it,” Kolodin said, directly addressing the governor.

Shortly after firing Duncan late last year, Hobbs’ administration moved to quickly execute Aaron Gunches, who murdered a man in 2002. The Arizona Supreme Court last week issued a death warrant, and Gunches is set to be put to death next month.

For committee chairman Rep. Joseph Chaplik, the method of execution comes down to the bottom line, and using a firing squad would be cheaper than procuring lethal injection drugs.

“I think … it is a lot less expensive to do as well, and our job is to cut the budget of the state here,” the Scottsdale Republican said.

Kolodin’s proposal would retain existing language in the constitution that would allow death row inmates who committed a crime prior to Nov. 23, 1992, to choose to die in the gas chamber instead.

The measure passed along party lines and will head to the full House for a vote next. If passed out of both chambers, it will head to the ballot in 2026.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

Hackers who broke into the systems of a Texas-based company that develops internal policies, manuals and other training material for law enforcement have published thousands of finished and draft procedure manuals for police departments across the country, including many in Arizona.

Lexipol boasts that it works with thousands of police departments and first responders across the country to help them create policy and procedure manuals that are used to guide those agencies on a myriad of topics.

The Arizona Mirror examined the over 8,500 files leaked by a hacking group calling itself “the puppygirl hacker polycule” and published by the nonprofit DDoSecrets that archives leaked and hacked material.

The agencies that the Mirror found included in the leak are: Chino Valley Police Department, Chandler Police Department, Bisbee Police Department, Flagstaff Police Department, Prescott Valley Police Department, Prescott Police Department, Lake Havasu Police Department, Maricopa Community College District Police Department, Buckeye Fire and Rescue Department, Pima County Community College Police Department, La Paz County Sheriff’s Office and the Phoenix Police Department.

Many of the documents appear to be drafts, with blank spaces to be filled in by the local law enforcement agency. In the case of the Phoenix Police Department policy manual that was in the leak, the oath that officers must take was likely copied from a document made for an Oregon law enforcement agency, as it refers to swearing to uphold the Oregon Constitution.

The departments that responded to the Mirror’s request for comment were unaware of the breach. Lexipol did not respond to a request for comment asking if they were notifying the agencies that were included in the hack.

“We have not received any information about this from Lexipol,” Lake Havasu Police Department Sgt. Kyle Ridgeway said in an email to the Mirror. “We began using Lexipol in early 2013. At this time there is no additional information I can provide.”

Many of the agencies already publicly post their policy and procedure manuals online, and some of the leaks are of early drafts of those documents. Some said they were unconcerned with the breach since the final documents are already publicly available.

“We are not particularly concerned about our policies being published, as they are already publicly available for transparency and accessibility,” Flagstaff Police Department Sgt. J.L. Rintala said. “Additionally, we have not engaged with Lexipole (sic) regarding this matter. Our organization has been utilizing Lexipole’s (sic) services for over ten years.”

Lexipol has come under fire for the work it performs for law enforcement agencies, particularly for its resistance to police reform and the use-of-force policies it creates. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have accused the group of writing policies that aid in protecting law enforcement that acts unethically.

And it’s policies have been criticized for crafting police policies that could “lead to racial profiling and harassment of immigrants,” as the ACLU has asserted. The ACLU of Washington claimed that Lexipol policies led to an incident where an officer in Spokane unlawfully detained a victim of a car wreck in order to let them be questioned by immigration authorities.

Additionally, some critics have complained that the policy and procedure manuals and other documents created by Lexipol for public agencies are copyrighted by the company.

Some of the agencies that responded to the Mirror made sure to mention that they have not used the company and have switched to other groups to help in crafting their policies.

“We have not been contacted directly by Lexipol in regards to this breach however we have transitioned away from the Lexipol platform for our policy management to Power DMS which is what is adopted across the city of Buckeye. We utilized them for 3-4 years,” Buckeye Fire and Rescue Department Fire Chief Jake Rhoades said in an email to the Mirror.

Maricopa Community Colleges Police Chief Blair Barfuss said the agency had not been contacted by Lexipol and was unaware of the breach until the Mirror asked about it. Other police departments made similar statements.

Barfuss said while the breach is “very concerning and upsetting,” the information released is available to the public through a public records request.

“We aim to be transparent in how and why we perform our public safety efforts,” Barfuss said.

The leak also includes documents that show Lexipol was demoing their product to fire departments, police and local governments.

A man already indicted for shooting at a local Democratic National Committee Office is facing new charges related to allegations that he posted anti-Democratic signs outfitted with razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of political violence. Police have tied him to a series of shootings at a Democratic National Committee office in Tempe, as well as placing the razor-blade and powder-laden anti-Democratic signs in nearby Ahwatukee.

Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a “mass casualty” event in Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor and a grenade launcher, they said in court documents filed last month.

Kelly is accused of shooting at the Democratic office on three different occasions between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6. He initially used a C02 powered gun before escalating to .22 caliber firearms, according to Tempe Police.

Over the course of the three shootings, he fired more than 20 times, causing damage to the building late at night, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Police were tipped off that Kelly might have been involved after they released photos of his vehicle, which had been spotted near thefts of Democratic yard signs in 2022.

After they began watching Kelly, they saw him placing signs that read “Dems kill Jews,” “Dems Lie” and “Never Harris,” referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The signs had razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them with the message “biohazard” and “F*** you! Play stupid games win stupid prizes! Guess the poison.”

Kelly was indicted on terrorism charges last month for the incidents involving the DNC office, but had not yet faced an indictment for the signs police saw him put up. The newly obtained grand jury indictment shows that he has since been indicted for four counts of “unlawful use of a biological substance or radiological agent,” a class 2 felony.

The indictment notes that Kelly placed “a simulated infectious biological substance” at multiple locations with the “intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass.” The four counts are for each of the signs Kelly placed along the roadway in Ahwatukee.

Kelly is being represented by an attorney who uses a gun range that Kelly also frequents and has represented militia members before. During Kelly’s initial appearance, attorney Jason Squires argued that Kelly is a “sportsman” who owns a “multitude of firearms,” adding that they were all legally obtained.

The Arizona Mirror found a LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Kelly in which he said he worked for Honeywell. His attorney said he held top secret clearances for his job until 2020.

Kelly has also posted unfounded conspiracy theories on a Facebook page found by the Mirror. As far back as 2014, Kelly was amplifying the debunked and racist “birtherism” claims about former President Barack Obama.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election for former President Donald Trump, Kelly changed his Facebook banner to a “Stop The Steal” logo, the movement that pushed unfounded claims around the 2020 election results.

He also posted frequent pro-gun memes, including an Islamaphobic one, and his profile picture is an edit of the infamous photo of Kathy Griffin with the severed head of Donald Trump but replaced with Biden and captioned “this is still funny right?”

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that election deniers connected to the far-right may attempt to bomb drop boxes or commit other acts of violence in the coming weeks.

A probable cause statement against Kelly disclosed that he is also under two separate federal investigations. Among the evidence police uncovered are Google searches Kelly allegedly performed looking up the address of the DNC office. The police also noted that Kelly “has finances and resources to conduct further acts of terrorism” and frequently travels across state lines.

The grand jury indictment also notes that Kelly “has a large sum of money and access to lots of guns and ammo” as the rationale behind a $500,000 cash bond. Kelly also has a $500,000 cash bond related to the terrorism charges making his total cash bond $1 million.

Kelly’s attorney claimed he did not own the vehicle at the center of the case, however, it was found on Kelly’s property, where it was covered in blankets. Police said it had been recently cleaned. Police also found two expired out-of-state license plates that were seen on the vehicle fleeing the scene.

Kelly also reportedly researched silencers and additional modifications for his weapons.

During their investigation, Tempe police found spent ammunition in Kelly’s trash that matched the caliber of rounds fired at the DNC office.

Kelly is set to appear in court on Nov. 5.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

A man accused of shooting at a local Democratic National Committee Office and putting up anti-Democratic signs with razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them has been indicted by a grand jury on terrorism charges.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of political violence. Police have tied him to a series of shootings at a Democratic National Committee office in Tempe, as well as placing the razor-blade and powder-laden anti-Democratic signs in nearby Ahwatukee.

Prosecutors said they believed he was allegedly planning a “mass casualty” event in Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor and a grenade launcher, according to prosecutors.

Kelly is accused of shooting at the Democratic offices on three different occasions between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6. He initially used a C02 powered gun before escalating to .22 caliber firearms, according to Tempe Police.

Over the course of the three shootings he fired more than 20 times, causing damage to the building late at night, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Police were tipped off that Kelly might have been involved after they released photos of his vehicle, which had been spotted stealing Democratic yard signs in 2022.

On Monday, a grand jury indicted Kelly on one count of terrorism, three counts of discharge of a firearm at a structure, three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm and one count of criminal damage, all felonies. He is currently being held on two $500,000 cash-only bonds.

The indictment does not appear to include charges related to the signs police saw Kelly place in Ahwatukee near his home.

Last week, law enforcement officers surveilling Kelly saw him placing signs that read “Dems kill Jews,” “Dems Lie” and “Never Harris,” referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The signs had razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them with the message “biohazard” and “F*** you! Play stupid games win stupid prizes! Guess the poison.”

Kelly has only been charged with crimes related to the DNC office shootings, but could face additional charges stemming from the signs and powder.

Kelly is being represented by an attorney who uses a gun range that Kelly also frequents and has represented militia members before. During an initial appearance last week, his attorney argued that Kelly is a “sportsman” who owns a “multitude of firearms,” adding that they were all legally obtained.

The Arizona Mirror found a Linkedin profile that appears to belong to Kelly in which he said he worked for Honeywell. His attorney said he held top secret clearances for his job until 2020.

Kelly has also posted unfounded conspiracy theories on a Facebook page found by the Mirror. As far back as 2014, Kelly was amplifying the debunked and racist “ birtherism” claims about former President Barack Obama.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election for former President Donald Trump, Kelly changed his Facebook banner to a “Stop The Steal” logo, the movement that pushed unfounded claims around the 2020 election results.

He also posted frequent pro-gun memes, including an Islamaphobic one, and his profile picture is an edit of the infamous photo of Kathy Griffin with the severed head of Donald Trump but replaced with Biden and captioned “this is still funny right?”

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that election deniers connected to the far-right may attempt to bomb drop boxes or commit other acts of violence in the coming weeks.

A probable cause statement against Kelly disclosed that he is also under two separate federal investigations. Among the evidence police uncovered are Google searches Kelly allegedly performed looking up the address of the DNC office. The police also noted that Kelly “has finances and resources to conduct further acts of terrorism” and frequently travels across state lines.

The car that Kelly’s attorney claimed he did not own was found on Kelly’s property, where it was covered in blankets. Police said it had been recently cleaned. Police also found two expired out-of-state license plates that were seen on the vehicle fleeing the scene.

Kelly also reportedly researched silencers and additional modifications for his weapons.

During their investigation, Tempe police found spent ammunition in Kelly’s trash that matched the caliber of rounds fired at the DNC office.

Kelly is set to appear before the court this week.