**Classrooms Over Cages: Pack the Surprise City Council Chambers**
Over a dozen schools, including Dysart High School and Dysart Middle School, sit inside the **2.7-mile toxic plume zone** documented in Rinchem’s own federal risk filings. Next door to that chemical hazard, the federal government is converting the warehouse at 13290 W. Sweetwater Ave. into an ICE Prison Camp.
And it is now confirmed that DHS has had **no communication** with the City of Surprise about emergency or safety preparedness. No coordination. No evacuation plan. Nothing.
Mayor Kevin Sartor knows all of this. His response has been deference to ICE — clearing the path for a federal prison camp while ignoring the documented dangers facing 73,642 residents and thousands of students that will be complicated if the ICE Prison Camp opens. When a mayor prioritizes accommodating ICE over answering for the safety of children in his own city, his silence isn’t neutral.
Attorney General Kris Mayes said it plainly: **This site will NEVER be appropriate for detention.** On June 16, we carry that message into the chambers ourselves — because the mayor won’t.
**Join us Tuesday, June 16 at 5:00 PM** (council meeting starts at 6pm) at Surprise City Hall, and:
– **Protest outside.** The protest starts at 5pm, then we’ll go inside for the meeting. NO sticks or poles (prohibited in chambers). Our unified message: CLASSROOMS OVER CAGES!
– **Pack the chambers.** Every seat filled is a message Sartor can’t ignore.
– **Sign up to speak** — in advance at https://surpriseaz-services.app.transform.civicplus.com/forms/24865 or at the door. The city limits each speaker’s time but NOT the number of speakers. We’ll have a prepared collective statement in short segments — take one and help us deliver it, or speak in your own words.
**Surprise residents and students deserve a mayor who answers for their safety before he answers to ICE.**