Community mapping for community defense
Immigration Enforcement Incidents Documented Since January 2025
This is an interactive map of immigration enforcement incidents, federal surveillance flights, immigration detention facilities, and facilities used by police agencies involved in immigration enforcement in greater Tucson. Enforcement incident information is crowdsourced from hundreds of Tucsonans who exercise their rights to witness and document the daily violence being directed against our families, friends, and neighbors by the cowards who carry out the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign.
Migra Map Key
Enforcement Incident Types
Aerial Surveillance (Aircraft)
Helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft equipped with surveillance technology operating over an area
Gathering/Staging
Agents and vehicles assembling at a location before or after an operation, often as a coordination or deployment point
Raid
Targeted enforcement action involving forced entry into a location such as a private residence or business
Stakeout/Surveillance
Agents monitoring a location or individual(s) for a period of time in advance of enforcement action
Unknown/Other
Incidents that occurred but are not clearly identifiable or that do not fit into one of the other categories
Vehicle Stop
Police action in which a vehicle was forced to stop so that the occupants could be detained for questioning, a search, or to be kidnapped
Police Facilities
Federal Police Agency Facilities
Facilities used by DHS agencies like ICE and Border Patrol, but also other entities involved in immigration policing like the DEA, the US Marshals, the FBI, the Army National Guard, and private contractors like G4S
Federal Police Aircraft Facilities
Facilities involved in the operation of federal surveillance aircraft, including helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft
Tucson Federal Building
Houses the DOJ’s EOIR (immigration court) and offices for the U.S. Marshals, the DHS Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG), and U.S. Citizenship And Immigration Services (USCIS)
Police Facilities
State (Arizona DPS), county (sheriff), and local police facilities
Tucson Police Tactical Support Section
Hangar facility housing TPD’s three surveillance helicopters
Pima County Sheriff’s Dept (PCSD) Air Unit
Hangar facility for the PCSD’s surveillance aircraft
Immigration Detention Facilities
Immigration Detention Facilities
Includes facilities run by ICE and those operated by private prison companies or state and local governments under contract with ICE
Surveillance Flight Paths
DHS / CBP
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircraft
DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) aircraft
Army National Guard
Army National Guard aircraft used for border policing support operations
Migra Map Project
Tucson Migra Map is a community documentation and mapping project created to illustrate the expanding scope of immigration policing in Tucson, Arizona.
Who makes the Tucson Migra Map, and why?
This map, and the database on which it is based, is created by the hundreds of Tucsonans—citizens and non-citizens—who have documented immigration enforcement incidents in our city. These reports are compiled and analyzed by a team of volunteers who dedicate our time and effort because we love our neighbors. This map is therefore not just a visual representation of state violence—it is also a map of our shared resistance to fascism and our commitment to a city that includes all of us, no matter where we come from.
What types of information does Tucson Migra Map track?
The map tracks four types of information:
- Immigration enforcement incidents conducted by ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal, state, county, and local police;
- Surveillance flights conducted by federal police agencies;
- Facilities used by a wide range of agencies involved in immigration policing, including federal enforcement agencies, state/county/local police, private security contractors, and US military units providing surveillance and logistics support for immigration enforcement;
- Immigration detention facilities
See below for instructions on how to navigate through this information on the online map.
What if I notice an incident is missing?
If you have information about an enforcement incident that already occurred but is not represented on our map, we would like to hear about it. Similarly, if you notice missing or incorrect information about an incident that is already mapped, please help us correct the record by contacting us using the form below.
What can you find on this map?
To view the different layers of information on this map, click on the “layer” button along the left side of the map to display the Data Browser menu. Then select the “eye” icon next to one or more layers you would like to view. You can also choose individual layers to view using the layer dropdown on the bottom of the screen. Available layers include:
This layer shows documented immigration enforcement activities, including vehicle stops, surveillance and stakeout activity, raids, operational staging, federal surveillance flights, and other kinds of incidents.
Each point represents a specific event, and more information about each incident is available by clicking on the icon.
Incidents are verified by our team as either “Confirmed” or “Credible Report but Unconfirmed” based on available evidence like witness testimony, photos/video, and news reports; incidents reported without supporting evidence are excluded from the map.
This “heat map” layer visualizes the concentration of documented enforcement incidents across the city. Areas with more enforcement incidents appear as “hotter” colors like red, orange, and yellow, while areas with relatively fewer documented incidents appear as “cooler” colors like green and blue.
This kind of map can provide a quick way to identify geographic “hotspots” of immigration enforcement, but remember: immigration enforcement happens all over the city, and these “hotspots” can shift over time. Just because an area does not show up on this map does not mean it is safe from ICE.
Immigration detention facilities are used to incarcerate non-citizens—including asylum seekers, families, and long-term residents—while they wait for a determination of their civil immigration status or a potential deportation.
The U.S. immigration detention system now includes more than 200 detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or operated by private prison companies or state and local governments under contract with ICE.
Immigration detention facilities can include dedicated, long-term facilities like the Eloy Detention Center (owned and operated by the private prison corporation CoreCivic) or shorter-term facilities—often called “hold rooms”—located within ICE offices like the sub-field office in Tucson.
This layer illustrates facilities operated by federal police agencies and their partners involved in immigration enforcement. These may include offices, processing centers, aircraft hangars, courthouses, fusion centers, and other infrastructure.
These agencies include Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies like ICE and the US Border Patrol, but they also include agencies like the US Marshals and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), both of which are actively involved in immigration enforcement in Tucson.
This layer also includes facilities used by components of the US military and private security contractors like G4S, which play an active but often overlooked role in immigration enforcement alongside ICE and other government agencies.
This layer shows facilities used by state (Arizona Department of Public Safety [AZDPS], county (Pima County Sheriff’s Department [PCSD]), and local (Tucson PD, South Tucson PD, Oro Valley PD, etc) police agencies that actively or passively cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
In some cases, these agencies participate in joint operations or task forces (such as the AZPDS-led Gang & Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission [GIITEM]) alongside federal agencies like ICE. In other cases, they may detain individuals on behalf of ICE under intergovernmental agreements like the 287(g) program.
In all cases, these so-called “public safety” agencies stand by cowardly as masked agents kidnap our neighbors.
This layer maps the flight paths of known aerial surveillance operations conducted by federal police agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Army National Guard.
Each of these surveillance operations is also mapped on the Enforcement Incidents layer as a distinct point (which is placed in a spot corresponding to a rough estimation of the area where the surveillance flight seemed most focused); on this layer, however, you can view the aircraft’s flight path.
Flight data largely comes from ADS-B Exchange, and while these aircraft typically hide their identification when broadcasting this flight data, we have been able to verify most of the aircraft involved in these flights through supplementary visual description and photographs from observers on the ground.
That said, the surveillance flights documented here represent only a fraction of those taking place over Tucson and throughout this region; surely many more happen when we aren’t looking, and so are never documented.
The surveillance flights revealed in this layer also do not include the daily surveillance flights conducted by Tucson PD helicopters and Pima County Sheriff’s Department fixed-wing planes (don’t worry, we’ll be mapping these too at some point!)
Layer button
To open the Data Browser, click on the icon that looks like three squares stacked on top of one another in the sidebar
Eye icon
Once the Data Browser is open, click on the icon that looks like an eye to make individual layers visible/invisible
How to use the data browser
Layers
Layer visibility can be toggled on and off.
You can do this two ways:
- By selecting a layer from the dropdown at the bottom of the screen, you can make that individual layer visible and the others invisible. However, if you want to make two or more layers visible at the same time, you will use the second method below.
- In this method, you’ll use the Data Browser accessed by clicking the “layers” button in the sidebar to the left of the map. Then click the “eye” icon for one or more layers to turn these layers on and off.
Note
When you first load the map, the “State/County/Local Police Facilities” and “Surveillance Flights” layers are not automatically visible.
Filters Tool
Located in the Data Browser, the Filters tool allows you to search for specific types of information in any of the layers.
Filter Incidents
For example, if you only want to view vehicle stops that took place in commercial areas, you can do that by selecting those two criteria in the Filter menu. (Note: in order to see the filter options for a layer, that layer must already be visible.)
You can also view details about any incident, facility, or surveillance flight that appears on the map simply by clicking on it, which will display a popup information box.
How to Use the Filter Tool to Find a Specific Surveillance Aircraft’s Flight Path
Surveillance flights are represented on the map in two ways:
- As a single point within the Enforcement Incidents layer (this point corresponds to an estimated “center” of the surveillance operation)
2. As a line (representing the aircraft’s flight path) within the Surveillance Flights layer
If you have selected a particular surveillance flight in the Enforcement Incidents layer, here’s how you can easily find the corresponding flight path for that incident in the Surveillance Flights layer:
- Select the surveillance flight in the Enforcement Incidents layer by clicking on its icon
- Look for the “Incident ID” in the information popup that appears for this incident
- If it’s not already visible, turn on the Surveillance Flights layer
- Open the Data Browser, click on the Filter button, and then scroll down until you find the Surveillance Flight Incident ID section
- Check the box next to the Incident ID you’re looking for, and the flight path for that specific flight will be visible while all the others disappear
Report an Incident
If you witness a potential immigration enforcement incident, please call the Tucson Community Rapid Response hotline at 520-221-4077. If possible, try to take photos/video of the incident and write down some notes about what you see.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the information on this map come from?
Enforcement incident reports come from multiple sources, including those collected by the Tucson Community Rapid Response project and related neighborhood defense networks like Migra Watch, reports shared via social media platforms and WhatsApp groups, local news reports, and more.
How often is this map updated?
This map is not intended to be a live alert system. It is instead an archive of information about incidents that have already occurred, and is updated as frequently as possible depending on the capacity of our team of volunteers. Our current goal is for verified incidents to be added to the map no later than one week after they occurred.
Does the map include all immigration enforcement incidents in Tucson?
No. The enforcement incidents included on this map are only those incidents that have been reported and verified by our team. Currently we are able to verify about half of the reports we hear about, and we suspect that many of these unconfirmed reports did likely occur, even though we were not able to collect enough evidence to meet our verification threshold. We also recognize that there are undoubtedly many other incidents that occur but are not reported through the networks and platforms we are connected to.
How can I get more information about a particular incident, facility, etc?
Use the contact form to request more information.