Tuesday morning, the Mesa Police Department apprehended longtime Phoenix advocate Martin Hernandez for trespassing while filming immigration enforcement activity. Hernandez was released nearly five hours later, following a public outrage over the detention and a protest outside a Mesa police station.
Mesa police spokesperson Jesse Macias told the Phoenix New Times that officers responded to the west Mesa neighborhood after getting a complaint from a “concerned citizen” about “a man who ran from law enforcement and was hiding inside a business.” Macias did not specify the business but stated that Hernandez was “asked multiple times to leave the private property” but “refused to comply and was subsequently detained for trespassing.”
He was subsequently transferred to the Mesa Police Department’s Northeast Mesa Public Safety Facility and charged with third-degree trespassing, a misdemeanor. Police cited him and then freed him.
Meanwhile, campaigners gathered outside the holding facility to demand Hernandez’s release. They also disputed the police narrative that he was trespassing, claiming that Hernandez was arrested for filming law enforcement officers.
“This is one out of, probably, I would say, hundreds of times he’s documented interactions between police and ICE,” said immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola. “He knows what he was doing and he’s allowed to document.”
Upon his release, Hernandez told KJZZ that he was targeted by law enforcement when he spotted them “taking this young lady from this apartment complex,” and authorities “took immediate action to take me away from the area, because they knew what I was doing.”
“As leaders in our community, we should not let officers scare us,” Hernandez said in a video posted by activist and former state Sen. Raquel Terán on Instagram after his release. “We need to continue our journey and our duty to our community to protect them from injustices from ICE and the separation of families.”
Hernandez, 61, has been a longstanding union organizer for Valley food workers, including dispensary personnel, and currently serves as the organizing director for UFCW Local 99. Following Hernandez’s release, UFCW Local 99 issued a statement thanking Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Sen. Ruben Gallego, and other public leaders and community activists who pushed for his release. “We will work with all involved authorities to fully understand why this event happened and make sure that all responsible parties are held accountable,” according to the statement.
“She believes he was wrongly detained and is grateful he was released,” spokesperson Richie Taylor told the outlet.
Hernandez has been a part of Phoenix’s activism ecology for over two decades, beginning with his opposition to the immigration raids conducted by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He has recently become a regular filmer of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in metro Phoenix. He has also helped organize “No Kings” rallies and community events at Home Depot.
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