Arizona Senator Analise Ortiz Is Under Fire for Posting ICE Locations and She’s Not Backing Down
When Arizona State Sen. Analise Ortiz saw masked federal agents outside an elementary school in South Phoenix, she didn’t hesitate to post about it on Instagram. The Democrat, who represents Maryvale and parts of Glendale, says her goal was simple: alert her community so families could avoid the area and protect themselves.
According to ABC15, Ortiz’s Instagram posts about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have drawn death threats, calls for her expulsion from the Legislature, and a request for a federal investigation from Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen. The spark? A viral post from the far-right Libs of TikTok account on X, accusing her of “actively impeding and doxxing” ICE.
“I am not intimidated by this. Because what I did was simply alert my community to stay away from an area where ICE could be. To keep themselves safe,” Ortiz told ABC15. “That is First Amendment-protected speech.”
Analise Ortiz says it’s about keeping her community safe
Ortiz told 12News that her posts warned families about ICE targeting “school kids and their parents.” She compared the alerts to apps that notify drivers about police speed traps.
“This is a protected First Amendment right that I have,” she said. “What we really need to remember is people suffering here.”
Ortiz also told the Arizona Capitol Times she has been forced to take precautions after receiving threats. “I feel as though it’s pathetic that they are pandering to these far-right extremist trolls on Twitter,” she said. “The only reason they’re doing this is because Libs of TikTok put this out and got 5,000 likes, and they thought, ‘Oh, we can capitalize off this too.’”
Republicans push for an investigation
Within hours of Libs of TikTok’s post, Senate President Warren Petersen said he had referred Ortiz’s social media activity to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona for possible violations of federal law.
“Public servants have a duty to uphold the law and respect those who enforce it, not undermine them,” Petersen wrote in a statement shared by multiple outlets.
Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman also announced plans to file an ethics complaint, writing on X that Ortiz is “openly putting the lives of American law enforcement at risk.”
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Arizona Capitol Times that Ortiz’s actions “certainly look like obstruction of justice” and “endanger law enforcement and weaken American national security.”
Legal experts say her posts are protected
First Amendment specialists disagree with the obstruction claim. Alex Morey, of the nonpartisan Freedom Forum, told ABC15 that Ortiz’s posts are “clearly a major public concern up for debate right now” and that “sharing publicly available information is well protected.”
Darrell Hill, policy director at the ACLU of Arizona, told the outlet that Ortiz’s alerts are “a normal expression of First Amendment rights and activities.”
Governor Katie Hobbs echoed the legal experts. “I don’t think that we should prosecute people over posts on social media,” Hobbs said. However, she added she would not personally post ICE locations due to concerns about officer safety.
Analise Ortiz says she won’t be intimidated
Ortiz has been one of the loudest critics of the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies. She has joined protests, worked with immigrant advocacy groups like Puente Arizona, and trained volunteers to support people attending immigration hearings.
She told the Arizona Mirror she will continue to post alerts. “Yep. When ICE is around, I will alert my community to stay out of the area, and I’m not f***king scared of you nor Trump’s masked goons,” she wrote on X in response to Libs of TikTok.
She later told reporters, “My duty is to keep people safe from his unconstitutional and authoritarian actions.”
The fight goes beyond one senator
This week, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes criticized Petersen for “bullying” Ortiz and reminded another official who volunteered to prosecute her that he might be exceeding his authority.
Meanwhile, the Libs of TikTok post targeting Ortiz has more than 13 million views, according to ABC15. Ortiz says the backlash shows why she won’t stop speaking out.
“It is our duty as elected officials to alert our community when masked agents are lurking outside of places that should be safe,” she told ABC15. “In this instance, they were outside of a school. They are targeting school children and their parents.”
