U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton and Yassamin Ansari are escorted into the Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center for a congressional oversight visit on May 19, 2026. (Photo courtesy of the Office of Greg Stanton)
Overflowing toilets, no medical care: Democrats call Mesa ICE facility a ‘public health issue’
Members of Congress are still concerned about a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Mesa after seeing cells still overcrowded and finding out that toilets at the facility “regularly overflow” after an unannounced visit Tuesday night.
This is the second surprise oversight visit to the facility located at…
Hope Hooton holds photos of her children, Alec and Lydia, who were killed two years ago by their father. She hopes new legislation, named the Alec and Lydia Act, will be the first step to reforming the family court system to prevent tragedies from striking other families. (Photo by Rebecca Gloria Gomez/Arizona Mirror)
Arizona leads nation in child deaths by parents in custody cases. A new bill aims to change that.
Alec Agape Mater and Lydia Alyssa Mater weren’t at school on Monday, May 20, 2024.
Lydia had turned six the week prior. She had excelled in kindergarten and teachers said she was already at first-grade level. Alec was about to finish second grade. At the upcoming graduation ceremony, he was to be recognized for reading a hundred books over the past year; he would also share a poem he’d written and memorized.
Mother’s Day had recently passed. Hope Hooton and Brock Mater were two months away from finalizing their divorce…
A Chiricahua leopard frog sits in a pond at the Phoenix Zoo as part of their conservation efforts to breed the amphibian that is listed as threatened in the Endangered Species Act. (Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror)
The tiny frog that could: How Arizona is pulling a threatened species back from the edge
At first glance, you’d think a meteor had impacted the dusty volcanic terrain in the White Mountains of northeastern Arizona. But the big hole in the ground serves an critical purpose: It’s a future pond for a threatened species of frog native to the southwest that the Arizona Game and Fish Department and a non-profit organization are aiming to help thrive.
The Chiricahua leopard frog can be found in Arizona, New Mexico and…
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