Below is my essay for my “Checkpoints” zine. Included are links to the references I used. Additionally there are links to related articles and resources. This zine is available for download as a one page zine: http://www.staceart.com/s/checkpoints-zine-one-page.pdf

Checkpoints: Reflections On My Travels Through Southern Arizona

Image description: A black and white drawing of a border patrol interior checkpoint.

Some of my earliest memories are of the drive to southern Arizona to visit my grandmother in Sierra Vista. Along the way of the nearly three hour drive from Phoenix, I recall my mom trying to keep my brother and I entertained with songs and games. Sometimes I still dream of visiting the commissary at the nearby Fort Huachuca. As I’ve gotten older, a more common memory I have is passing through a border patrol interior checkpoint when traveling back home. The one we frequented is in Huachuca City, off of AZ SR 90 north, nearly 40 miles away from the Mexico-United States border. While not as thorough as an actual border patrol checkpoint, we were still asked if we were U.S. citizens before being waved through. I hadn’t realized how close I was to the border until the first time I visited Bisbee and a family friend drove me 20 minutes to the border wall near Naco. It was incredibly unnerving to see it for the first time in person.

Image description: A black and white drawing of the border fence.

The handful of times I’ve visited southern Arizona in the past six years, I haven’t seen that checkpoint opened. From those I ask who live or frequently travel through in the area, it seems to be rarely open, if at all. But there is no definitive proof that it’s permanently closed or if other surveillance technology may be nearby. There are similar checkpoints off of AZ SR 80 near Tombstone and AZ SR 83 near Sonoita. From what I’ve gathered online, the most active checkpoints in the Tucson sector are on AZ SR 85 near Gila Bend and Ajo, Arizona.

Even if the checkpoints are closed, they still weigh heavily on my mind. Given the current administration and ramping up of immigration enforcement, I am concerned this could cause alarm for those traveling through southern Arizona for the first time.

Image description: A drawing of a map of the Tucson sector. Major highways are drawn with a dark line. State routes and highways are drawn in thinner lines. Interior checkpoints are represented by a circle icon.

The blatant reliance on racial profiling by federal agents is apparent from a Supreme Court ruling in September 2025. The Trump administration requested an emergency hearing in August after a federal appeals court had granted a temporary restraining order against unlawful stops due to racial profiling during immigration raids in Southern California in July (ACLU of Socal, 2025). The Supreme Court granted a stay for Perdomo v. Noem, resuming agents' ability to use “any combination of four factors – “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking in Spanish or accented English, presence at a location where undocumented immigrants “are known to gather,” and working at specific jobs, such as landscaping or construction – to justify conducting detentive stops" (Dallas, 2025). Even though the case originated from California, it is not a far stretch for it to be applied in Arizona and the rest of the nation. The report “Latino ICE Arrests Surge Under Trump” from UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge sheds an alarming light on available data for ICE arrests. Between February through July 2024 under the Biden Administration, there were a total of 915 Latino arrests by ICE in Arizona. Within the same timespan in 2025, that number increases to 3,205 arrests (Ong et al., 2025). In an article published by CBS, between January 2025 through January 2026, less than 14% of ICE arrests nationwide involved those accused or convicted of violent crimes, and “nearly 40% of all of those arrested by ICE in Mr. Trump's first year back in office did not have any criminal record at all, and were only accused of civil immigration offenses, such as living in the U.S. illegally or overstaying their permission to be in the country” (Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 2026).

My goal for sharing this is not to fear-monger. I’ve struggled with feeling too paranoid bringing this up to others, but unfortunately it’s the reality that we live in. It is my intent for others to make informed decisions and preparations while traveling in southern Arizona. My hope is that my community can travel safely and freely.

Image description: A black and white drawing of a mountain range nearby a road.

Acknowledgments:

Thank you to my friends and community for allowing me the space to discuss and process these feelings.

The YouTube channel Robert Trudell has a video of the AZ SR 90 checkpoint, uploaded on March 19, 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhc3w8FGeo

References:

Court Prohibits Federal Government from Racial Profiling, Denying Access to Counsel in Immigration Raids - ACLU of Socal. (2025). ACLU of Socal. https://www.aclusocal.org/press-releases/court-prohibits-federal-government-racial-profiling-denying-access-counsel/

Camilo Montoya-Galvez. (2026, February 9). Fewer than 14% of those arrested by ICE in Trump’s 1st year back in office had violent criminal records, document shows. Cbsnews.com. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-arrests-violent-criminal-records-trump-first-year/

Dallas, K. (2025, August 7). Noem v. Perdomo. SCOTUSblog. https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/noem-v-perdomo/

Ong, J., Ong, P., Diaz, S., & Chinchilla, M. (2025). Latino ICE Arrests Surge Under Trump. In UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge (p. 10). https://knowledge.luskin.ucla.edu/immigration-research/

Resources:

Immigrant Rights: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights

Border Zone Rights: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone

Know Your Rights Zine: https://www.acluaz.org/news/how-make-know-your-rights-zine/

Electronic Freedom Foundation Zine on Surveillance Tech at the Southern Border: https://www.eff.org/pages/zine-surveillance-technology-us-mexico-border

Deportation Data Project: https://www.deportationdata.org/

UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge Immigration Research: https://knowledge.luskin.ucla.edu/immigration-research/

This zine is available for download as a one page zine: http://www.staceart.com/s/checkpoints-zine-one-page.pdf

Checkpoints: Reflections On My Travels Through Southern Arizona

Acknowledgments:

References:

Related Reading:

Resources: