LATEST
A decade after Arizona rejected San Simon groundwater protections, local farmers try again amid worsening declines
After the state rejected San Simon farmers’ push to limit new groundwater irrigation in 2015, AZCIR found more large well applications were filed over the next decade than during the previous 35 years combined. State records now document accelerating groundwater losses, sinking land and permanent damage to the aquifer.
RECENT
Threats of ICE at the polls may be a fear tactic. Arizona is preparing anyway.
Election officials and voting rights groups say they are ready to respond to Trump administration interference in the 2026 midterm election.
New Medicaid work rules could make it harder for thousands of ‘medically frail’ Arizonans to keep coverage
With new Medicaid work requirements set to take effect in January, Arizona is attempting to determine which residents qualify for medical exemptions under federal rules that leave key questions unanswered. More than 100,000 Arizonans could face additional barriers to keeping their coverage, and state officials warn the changes will strain healthcare providers and cost millions to implement.
Asylum win caps immigrant’s two-year detention as courts weigh third-country deportations
Celestin Dima spent more than two years in ICE custody and came within hours of being deported to a country where he had never lived. Now he has won asylum, freeing the African immigrant as courts wrestle with the policies that shaped his case and the government’s expanding use of third-country deportations.
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ENVIRONMENT
Hualapai Valley lawsuit tests Arizona’s authority to protect vulnerable groundwater basins
A legal challenge brought by two out-of-state investment firms is testing how Arizona establishes groundwater protections. As the case moves through the courts, state officials warn the outcome could affect future efforts to limit new irrigation in vulnerable aquifers. It’s already complicating decisions in other threatened basins.
HEALTH
Arizona promised secure treatment for its sickest psychiatric patients. Seven years later, it still doesn’t exist.
Secure behavioral health residential facilities were authorized in 2019 to fill a critical gap in care. But years of implementation delays have left people with serious mental illness caught in a loop of hospitalizations, homelessness and crisis.
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LAW ENFORCEMENT
Judges ruled deporting at-risk migrants home could lead to persecution or torture. ICE is detaining them anyway.
At least 120 immigrants were detained for months in Arizona ICE facilities, despite judges barring their deportation home because they would face prosecution or torture, an AZCIR analysis found. Many were held beyond six months as the Trump administration sought to deport them to countries where they had never lived, raising questions about constitutional limits…
EDUCATION
Arizona community colleges lower expectations for Workforce Pell as state approves first programs
More than 60 Arizona workforce programs initially appeared poised to benefit from expanded Pell grants this year. But amid tight timelines and strict federal requirements, just nine were submitted for state review, and three are advancing for federal consideration.
ELECTIONS
Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans could be removed from the mail voting list in 2027
Arizona voters who haven’t used their mail ballots in recent general elections could get kicked off the Active Early Voting List stating in 2027.
Seeds of Distrust
Border911: The misinformation network profiting off the false invasion narrative
Border 911: A network of dark money and charity organizations led by former intelligence officers and ex-feds has been spreading propaganda, laying the groundwork for presidential election challenges–and profiting from border disinformation.
A lawman’s change of heart
Iconic Texas Sheriff Arvin West was a leading voice against migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He pushed strict measures favored by former President Donald Trump. But West says his perspective is aligned with what he sees as the reality of the border, his weariness of divisive politics, and the wishes of neighbors who’ve voted him into office.
The Border Propagandist
Jaeson Jones, a confidante of incoming federal border czar Tom Homan, is helping lay the groundwork for mass deportations and conflict with Mexico.
IN THE SHERIFF WE TRUST
This project, In the Sheriff We Trust, was produced by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, in collaboration with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. The Howard Center is based at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is an initiative of the Scripps Howard Fund in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard.
